


This Ain't Easy

by Kivea



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Cliche, Comedy, F/M, Fluff, Friends With Benefits, Humor, I'm very sweary I'm sorry., Implied Sexual Content, M/M, Slow Burn, University, bad language, gimme dat platonic klance, most of the bad language will be from my notes., romcom
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-09-06
Updated: 2018-03-09
Packaged: 2018-12-24 19:24:11
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 21
Words: 67,256
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12019386
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kivea/pseuds/Kivea
Summary: Hunk has always been the mediator. The glue that keeps them trio together. The reason why, despite any differences they had in their first year, they still managed to be flatmates the next year. But when Hunk gets a real girlfriend, Lance and Keith fumble through their friendship without Hunk to keep them together. One of the things that they can always bond over? Their pining feelings towards two other students, namely the Genius Chick from the robotics club and the PhD student who has become the guest Professor for Coran's class.The first hurdle is to actually get Lance to admit he likes the Genius Chicken. The second is deciding whether it's morally okay to want a Professor, even if they are technically a student too.





	1. Chapter 1

It was a slow day. He could count the amount of people who came through the store on two hands, and he was just over half way through his shift. Keith groaned as he looked at the clock on the back wall, seeing that he still had three hours to go. He could see the sunshine outside warming up the store and wanted nothing more than to be in the pleasant weather. 

He let his head hit the counter. Perhaps it was time to accept his fate. He was a slave to money. He would never see the light of day again. 

His phone buzzed in his pocket with a dumb picture message from one of his flatmates, opening it to see Lance flipping him off with Hunk smiling brightly in the background holding ice-creams in their hands. 

_Bet u wish u were here_

Bastard. 

Keith shoved the phone away and resolved not to look at it for the rest of his shift. He'd have to buy something for Hunk at the end of the day. It would drive Lance crazy. 

The sound of the bell chiming snapped him out his stooper, hearing his boss ranting in the back of his head to  _keep smart stay professional_ when someone came in. Part of him was happy to hear the sound of having something to do and someone to talk to for five minutes. A larger part of him wished they'd just  _leave him alone_ because he was not in the mood to socialise in that moment. 

Whoever it was disappeared into the aisles quickly, away from view. Keith rolled his eyes and folded his arms across the edge of the till, careful not to smack any of the buttons. It wouldn't be the first time he'd broken the till but he had to at least pretend that he wasn't intentionally trying. 

'Hey,' a voice chimed and drew his gaze upwards. 'Just this please.' 

If there was a text book definition for "tall, dark, and handsome", it was staring him in the face. 

A soft smile and dark grey eyes that looked like a thunderstorm held in an orb, framed by dark black hair that had a shock of white straight through the fringe. It was bizarre, so different, but looked so good against the strong face and defined jaw. He tried to keep his eyes trained on the man's face so it wasn't too obvious that he was checking the guy out. 

Because damn he wanted to check him out so bad. Apparently the cure to boredom was coming in the form of eye candy. 

Keith tried to smile. His face was still persistent on the grumpy setting of boredom. 'No problem. Would you like any of our promotional offers today?' 

The man hummed as he looked over the desk. From this distance Keith could see a pink mark stretched across the bridge of the man's nose, marring the otherwise perfect skin. 'No, I think I'm good. You having a long day?' 

'You have no idea,' he drawled. 'Apparently everyone agrees that it's better to be outside than in here.' 

'Most people would be thankful for quiet I imagine.' 

'I like to be busy.' 

A low chuckle.  _Fuck_. That was a good sound.

'You having a good day?' 

'I am, but I have the benefit of being outside in the sunshine. It's a shame you can't close up shop early.' 

'Do you really need to gloat?' Keith tried to hold back the smile that time. He didn't do a very good job.

The Mystery Man's smile widened. 'Hey, whatever I need to do to perk you up and get more of that smile.' 

Keith looked back down at the till where he began swiping items through to bag, his heart beginning to speed up. 'You have an agenda, huh?' 

'No need to make it sound so sinister.' 

'It might be.' 

'It's not, I promise. Just trying to do my good deed for the day.' 

'I've been told you shouldn't trust strangers.' 

'Alright-!' The guy looked down and squinted at Keith's chest where a button with his name printed sat. '-Keith, I'll give you that one. I'm Shiro.' 

Keith raised a brow in amusement. 

'It's a pleasure to meet you.' 

'Sure, nice to meet you too.' 

A flash of teeth. 'What lovely weather we're having.' 

'Are you trying to small-talk your way past "stranger"?' 

'I dunno, is it working?' 

Keith smirked. 'That'll be five fifty please.' 

It took a moment for Shiro to respond. By the time he'd opened his mouth there was another ring of the bell. 

'Shiro!' Called a feminine voice. 'Hurry up! Matt's about to try skate in my roller blades and you're going to miss it!' 

Keith glanced round Shiro to see a dark-skinned woman in the doorway, wispy white hair pulled into a high bun. He tried not to let his disappointment show when Shiro turned and handed over a couple of notes from his wallet at the woman's insistence. 

'Here's your change.' 

'Thanks,' Shiro took his bag and began to turn. 'Guess I'll have to get that smile next time.' 

It took every ounce of his willpower not to blush at that one. He bit hard on his bottom lip to hold back the smile as he scoffed and rolled his eyes. The man turned and headed out the store as his female friend disappeared after waving for him to hurry. Without her prying eyes Keith allowed himself to watch the way the man moved on the way out the store, eyes dragging down from the handsome face to admire broad shoulders that lead to a slim waist and attractive rear. 

One arm showed developed muscles while the other-was that a prosthetic robot arm? Shit that was cool. 

Sometimes it was nice to be reminded of exactly why he was so attracted to men, especially when it came in such a nicely wrapped package. 

Shiro turned and pushed the door open with his back and a quick: 'See you later, Keith.' 

Keith thought he imagined the wink that was shot his way when the bell chimed again to signal the door closing and leaving him alone once again. 

The next three hours may have been slow, but at least he had fresh thoughts of eye candy and a melodic voice still ringing in his ears to entertain his imagination with. 

* * *

'How do I look?' 

Lance rolled his eyes. 'You look fine, you've also asked me that question like, twenty times by now. Calm down buddy. You got this in the bag.' 

'I just want to make sure I'm doing this right! Tonight's the night I'm going to really ask her to be my girlfriend.' 

The pair were in the living room of their college flat, one lanky man sprawled out across the couch and one dark haired man standing in front of the TV well dressed with his hair styled for the first time in a few months. He held a small cube in one hand, full of glittering purple stones, and he tugged at the collar of his button up through the nervous sweat he was building up. 

'You're perfect. Hunk you're like, one of the nicest guys I know, and Shay is totally into you. And those rocks? Talk about romantic.' 

'Why is Hunk taking rocks to his date?' 

They turned to look round where their third and final flatmate appeared from his room, a carton of ice cream in one hand, spoon only just visible from the top. Hunk grinned wide as he regaled the story of how on their last date she'd seen them in one of the stores they passed through, so he returned the next day to buy them for her. Lance couldn't help but admire the way his best friend's eyes lit up with his words, arms gesturing animatedly. 

'You need to leave before you're late,' Lance informed. 'That's not a good impression to make.' 

'You're right, I have to leave. I've left instructions on top of the casserole dish for dinner, just on heating it up and stuff. Is there anything else?' 

Keith rolled his eyes. 'We've managed to survive dinners without you before, we're not going to die.' 

'Yeah buddy!' Lance threw a thumbs up. 'We won't stay up for you.' 

'Text me if you need me!' 

'We won't.' 

The door shut with a loud bang, the sound of the TV echoing through the flat. Lance snorted and began to count down from five, Keith rolling his eyes once again and moving to where their kitchen connected to the living room with his ice-cream carton. 

Lance got to two before the door flew open again. 

'I forgot my wallet!' Hunk rushed through the room, diving forward and grasping it from the coffee table. 'Damn it Lance why didn't you tell me I'd forgotten my wallet?' 

'Didn't I? Whoops. I must've missed it.' 

'Alright I'm going for real now.' 

There was a murmured goodbye from somewhere in the kitchen as Hunk left the house for the second time. Lance let out a sigh, finally turning his attention fully to the TV that was playing an episode of Kitchen Nightmares and turning the volume up a fraction. 

He was happy for his best bro. The boy had been pining after the girl since they started last year, and it was nice that he'd finally found the courage to ask her on a date. It was no surprise when she'd said yes. Anyone would be lucky to have Hunk. 

It was strange that it was actually happening though. Since their first year it had been the three of them, flittering through various first dates and almost-relationships that never quite fully formed. There was something about university life that didn't seem to lend the trio to relationships. Maybe it was Hunk's focus on studies, or Lance's inability to keep his fickle personality in check, or Keith's complete inability to talk to people without sounding like he was being sarcastic or aggressive. Whatever it was, the fact that Hunk was finally there and had it within his grasp was something Lance was going to have to come to terms with. 

Lance was pretty good at rolling with the punches, unless those punches involved his friends walking two steps away from him. 

'What are you watching?' 

He pulled his knees up as Keith moved to sit with him on the couch. He knew from personal experience that Keith would not hesitate to sit on his legs if he didn't move them in time. 'Kitchen Nightmares. Obviously.' 

'Of course, what else?' 

There it was. The sarcastic drawl. 'You don't have to watch it with me. You can go back to your cave of conspiracy theories.' 

'Nah, I'm good with this.' 

Lance huffed and turned back to the TV. 'How was work today?' 

'Yeah it was alright.' 

'Anything exciting happen?' He continued to probe. 

'Nope.' 

He narrowed his eyes, watching each shift of Keith's face as the man continued to stare at the screen. He had a masterful poker face. It took a long time of close quarters for Lance to even think about being able to see through it, and even know there were times where he just couldn't tell. 

'Nothing at all?' 

Keith shot him a withering glare. 

'Alright, alright!' He held up his hands. 'I'll drop it for now. But I'm on to you.' 

'Whatever-just watch the damn show.' 

You got it, boss-man.' 

It surprised neither of them that four hours and several episodes later their flatmate burst through the front door with a wide grin on his face, completely ignoring the mess of plates on the coffee table and the fact that Keith had his shoes on the couch in favour of scooping them both up in a bone-crushing hug as he began yammering on about how successful it had been, how he and Shay were officially boyfriend and girlfriend, how he was so  _head over heels_ for this chick. 

Lance was happy. He honestly really was. But there was a quiet ache in the back of his chest, a fear that he was going to lose his wingman, his bro, the one of the greatest friends he’d ever had. 

A fear that was squashed as soon as Keith suggested that they celebrate. It was only ten o'clock, there was time to go out and have a couple of drinks as congratulations. It was a ridiculous fear. Just because Hunk now had a girlfriend didn't mean he was going to lose his best friend. They were best friends! He needed to give his Hunky Monkey more credit than that. 

Maybe he was just lonely. Maybe he needed more people. That was something that a night out on the town could probably provide. 


	2. Chapter 2

Lance woke to the sound of someone screaming. 

Maybe on a regular day his first response would've been to instantly get up and rush to see what the scream was, but this wasn't a regular day. There was a thumping in his head and while he knew that neither of his flatmates had a voice that pitch, he was sure that Hunk could reach it if he  _really_ tried. Whatever it was, one of them would deal with it. He meanwhile felt like there was moss in the back of his throat and did he fall asleep on the couch again because this was definitely not his bed. 

'Who the  _fuck_ are you?!' 

That was not Hunk. Or Shay. 

He rolled over and nearly fell off the couch. The shock finally forced open his eyes, and he had to take a few seconds to figure out where he was. A car. This was a car. This was the backseat of a reasonably small car. How did he mistake this for the couch it was tiny!

He blinked a few times and looked over to the front where there was a girl who looked ready to either call the police or deliver unrestrained murder. Brown eyes framed with glasses glared down at him, a pink dust on pale cheeks, and light brown hair pulled back into a bun. Who was this? 

'Where am I?' 

Her mouth snapped closed and her brows lowered before she reached forward and lifted a lever that had her seat shooting backwards and nearly smacking him. 

'Holy shi-?!' 

'I'm asking the questions here,' she snapped, raising a finger. 'Give me one good reason why I shouldn't lock you in here and call the police.' 

'I'm sorry usually I'd come up with something but I'm really fucking hungover right now and my brain isn't functioning yet.' 

'Not good enough.' 

She was out the driver's seat with the keys in her hands. 

'No!' Lance scrambled into a sitting position, rushing for the door handle before it locked. 'Wait stop I'm sorry! I didn't mean to fall asleep in your car-this is your car, right?' 

It was too late. She locked it. Fucking damn it. 

He wound down the back window. 'I didn't mean to I promise I'll never do it again.' 

'How did you even get in there?!' 

'I dunno I guess it was unlocked and I needed a nap or something?' 

'Don't people usually go out with others when they're drinking? Or...are you a hobo?' 

'What?! No! Do I look like a hobo to you?' 

She levelled a silent glare at him, folding her arms across her chest. 

'Ouch, I'm hurt.' 

'I don't know why I'm still having this conversation.' 

'Look, I just...' He rubbed the back of his neck and looked around, fully taking in where they were. It was some of the dorms for the university, the twin room ones that most of the first years ended up in. That gave him some kind of location at least. 'Are we at Altea?' 

'Maybe.' 

'Can I-do you mind if I just quickly ring my flatmate and get him to come pick me up?' Lance asked. 

'If you get out my car to do it, sure.' 

He tried the door handle. Still locked. He raised a brow at her before she rolled her eyes and finally opened the car for him, letting him out before she went straight back for the driver's seat. 

'Are you leaving?' 

'Why would I stick around?' She asked. 'You're not my problem.' 

'What if I can't get a lift home?' 

'You're some  _random creep_ who fell asleep in  _my car_  and you expect me to hang about while you try and organise your life?' She demanded. 'Are you for real?' 

'I mean yeah I don't want to be stuck at the dorms for the rest of the day with a hangover. I have class later.' 

She glared and shut the door fully before adjusting her seat. She put the keys in the ignition. But she didn't start the car. 

He decided wasting time was probably the opposite of a good idea right now and pressed his speed dial. 

_'Hello?'_

He grinned wide. 'Keith! My man! My buddy my pal! How're you?' 

_'What do you want?'_

'Hey is that anyway to greet your favourite flatmate?' 

There was silence. 

'Alright I need picking up from Altea.' 

_'Long night?'_

Lance glanced behind him where the girl was still in her car, still glaring out the front window. 'Yeah, you could say that...' 

_'What happened? Last time you called me for a lift I had to drive up a horrendously steep hill to a dogging site where I was propositioned three times. I want to know what I'm getting in to.'_

'So,' he looked away before she caught him staring. 'I may have woke up in some randomer's car, and I'm very surprised that she didn't give me a black eye.' 

He was met with laughter. 

'It's not funny Keith! I am in serious need of a supportive shoulder right here!' 

_'Yeah, yeah, whatever._ _I'll be there in half an hour.'_

'Half an hour? Really?' 

_'Take it or leave it. You can always ask your new friend for a lift.'_

'Yeah, I honestly don't think that's going to happen.' 

_'Half an hour._ _We'll go straight to class.'_

He groaned and rolled his eyes. 'Fine, I'll take it. Thanks.' 

There was the click of someone hanging up and a dial tone. He shoved the phone in his pocket and turned back to the car, a green corsa. The brown eyes glanced over at him expectantly. He gave a thumbs up before she started the car and drove out of the parking space a little too quickly without another word. 

He grimaced and watched as the car left, feeling the cricks and cracks in his bones settling in from spending a night in the cramped back seat of a car. Maybe he could've handled that better. Maybe he  _should've_ tried his luck to see if she would've taken him home. If she was happy-or, well,  _willing-_ to stick about to make sure he got a lift, that meant she would've been somewhat agreeable to the idea, right? 

Lance accepted his fate and sat down on the curb, finger and thumb at his temples as he sent a quick text to remind Keith to bring his backpack with him. It was a bit much to ask, but... 

He didn't want to bother Hunk. Not when he knew the boy had told him the previous day he was going to spend time with his new girlfriend for lunch. A lunch date. As they did. 

He sighed and looked up towards the sky as he waited for Keith to arrive. 

* * *

Lance looked about as pathetic as he'd expected him to. Keith smirked as he pulled his motorbike into the parking space where the Cuban boy sat clutching his head. There was a moment where he was sure Lance had fallen asleep. Keith stood to get the spare helmet out of the seat before tossing it on the ground along with the backpack. 

'Get up, it's biology time.' 

He was met with a groan. 

'Oh, so you are awake.' 

'I don't want to go to class. Can't I skip today?' 

'No,' Keith supplied. 'You need to come to class with me so I can laugh at you.' 

Lance finally looked up and fixed him with a glare. 'Rude.' 

'You'd do the same to me. Hurry up; I don't want to be late.' 

'Coran's always late anyway, it's not like we're in that much of a rush.' 

Keith rolled his eyes and stayed silent as he waited. Lance finally took the hint and pulled himself together as he grabbed his backpack and helmet, settling down on the seat behind Keith. 

The ride may have been silent, but Keith wasted no time once they'd arrived at the Science building and parked up in getting down to the details about Lance's morning. 

'So,' he started with a drawl. 'You broke into some chick's car?' 

'I did not break in. She must've left it open over night or something, it was totally not my fault.' 

'Uhuh, sure. I believe you.' 

'We're not all like you, Mullet. I don't have a criminal record.' 

'I do not have a criminal record.' 

'Sure you don't. I believe you.' 

Keith rolled his eyes. 'So what, you just decided it seemed comfy and went to sleep? Have I ever told you how creepy you are?' 

'Yes, you have. You do. On multiple occasions, several times a day.' 

'That's not true. I only do it when you're interacting with women.' 

'Keith, we interact with women on a day-to-day basis!' 

'That's not my fault.' 

Lance practically growled. 'I wish I'd rang Hunk. He would've understood my pain.' 

'Alright, alright, I'll drop it,' Keith agreed as they stepped into the lecture theatre. As predicted, Coran hadn't arrived yet, though they were five minutes early. 'I'm sorry that you had to suffer through such a traumatic experience.' 

'I'll ignore the sarcasm and forgive you. Cause I'm a nice guy like that.' 

Keith prepared a retort as he turned round to face Lance, but faltered as he caught something out the corner of his eye, seeing a flash of white and black pass the closing door at the back of the room. 

'Keith?' 

It brought back a vivid memory of a warm smile and teasing words, smooth voice and an undeniably attractive body. 

'Hey, Mullet, what's that face for?' 

'What?' Keith looked up as Lance waved a hand in front of his face. 'Nothing. Come on.' 

'Oh no,' Lance murmured as he took off to find a seat. 'Oh no you don't you're not getting out of this one that quick. What did you see?' 

'I didn't see anything.' 

'You totally saw something. You're doing that thing again.' 

'What thing again?' 

'The thing you do when you're trying to keep up a poker-face. You did it the other day on the couch too, when I was asking you about work? What are you hiding, Mystery Man?' 

'Stop calling me that.' 

'Tell me what you're hiding then.' 

'No.' 

'Mystery Man. I'm gonna rename you in my phone to-!' 

'Fine!' He dropped his bag down on the table with a glare. 'I thought I saw someone.' 

'Who?' 

'Just-someone I met at work the other day.' 

A slow smirk began to creep its way onto Lance's face. 'Oho,  _someone_ , huh?' 

'Yes, someone.' 

Lance finally sat down. 'Was it an attractive someone?' 

'I guess if you find tall dark and handsome attractive, sure.' 

'Which most people do, yes. Tell me about him.' 

'No.' 

'Why not?!' 

'I'm not some gossiping housewife.' 

'I am. That’s exactly what I am. So you better tell me.' 

Keith groaned and shrugged, refusing to meet his friend's gaze. 'I dunno what there is to say. He was...pretty well built, I guess. He had dark hair, but it had like a streak of white in the fringe? And this scar across his nose. But he was dressed well, kind of...sophisticated. Maybe a little older than us.' 

When he finally looked up there was a shit-eating grin across Lance's face. 

'What?' 

'Older, huh?' 

'Yeah, that's what I said.' 

'With white in his hair?' 

'Yeah, but not in a tacky way.' 

Lance held a hand to his face. 'Maybe instead of Mystery Man you should be Daddy Kink.' 

Keith felt his face light up in embarrassment the same time his heart lit up with anger. 'What the fuck?!' 

'You know, seeing as you have a boner for an  _older man_.' 

Keith groaned as his head hit the desk while Lance practically  _giggled_ next to him. 'Shut  _up_ , jackass.' 

'I'm sorry, I can't help it. You totally have a dad thing.' 

'I do not have a dad thing.' 

'You described him as sophisticated, Keith.  _Sophisticated_.' 

'He wasn't that much older. And the white didn't look, like, you know, the old kind of white. Maybe it was dyed.' 

'Oh, so he's a fake-dad.' 

'Lance.' 

'Wannabe dad.' 

'I'm going to punch you in the gut.' 

'Let me have this one.' 

Keith glared. 'You know how I said I was going to drop the thing where you woke up in some random chick's car? Yeah, I've changed my mind.' 

'You got more than enough laughter out of that already, it's my turn.' 

'I did not!' 

The door at the back of the room opened and the students began to fall into a hushed silence, signaling a lecturer entering. Keith quickly raised his middle finger to Lance, who returned it by sticking his tongue out in a mature gesture. Footsteps reached the front of the room and the duo finally decided to get their books out in preparation for whatever lecture Coran was going to give them that day. 

'Hello class, it's a pleasure to meet you. Unfortunately Coran isn't able to take class today, so has asked me to step in for him. You can call me Shiro.' 

Keith's heart stopped. A chill rushed through his bloodstream. 

'Because of the short notice today will mostly be a review session, so I'll be asking you a lot of questions. See where the gaps in your knowledge are.' 

He looked up and a dread settled inside of him. A shock of white. A pink scar. 

'Is that alright with everyone?' 

Keith felt Lance's arm move, no doubt to raise and ask his usual dumb questions that he did when they first met lecturers on the principal of  _ask a stupid question get a stupid answer_. Keith moved in a flash to grip Lance's wrist like a vice and keep it pinned to the table. 

'What?' Lance's voice was low. 'Are you alright? You look a little pale.' 

'It's him.' 

He didn't dare look at his friend. He couldn't drag his eyes away from the man at the front of the room who was speaking through lecture notes as if it was second nature, all confidence and no arrogance. 

'Who's him-wait, the white...with a scar...' Lance gasped. 'No  _way_.' 

A couple of their classmates turned to look at them. Keith dug his nails into Lance's skin and was rewarded with a small whine of pain. Dark eyes skimmed over them, and he swore there was a moment where Shiro had to do a double take and stumbled through his words as his gaze found Keith. 

'You've got the hots for the substitute lecturer?' 

'I didn't know he was a substitute lecturer!' Keith argued. 'I mean sure he seemed older, but not  _that_ much older!' 

'This is too rich. It's perfect.' 

'I swear to fuck Lance if you don't-!' 

'Is there a problem, boys?' 

Keith clamped his mouth shut and pulled his hand back from Lance's wrist, looking everywhere he possibly could except the front of the classroom. 

Lance stepped up to cover him as usual. 'Sorry sir! I think I left my notes at home. I was trying to convince Keith here to share with me.' 

'I'm sure Keith wouldn't mind, would you?' 

His voice was so perfect. So melodic. Imagine what could be done with it if-! 

Keith choked out a reply. 'Not at all.' 

'Excellent. Right, where was I...?' 

He let out a breath he didn't know he was holding as the man continued on with his lecture, pausing occasionally to ask questions on specific facts from the hall. Lance leaned in once again with a whispering voice this time. 

'He could totally be your daddy.' 

Keith resisted the urge to punch him in the face. Instead he settled for a harsh kick under the desks. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I found the idea for Lance and Pidge's meeting on the http://meetcuteproject.tumblr.com - they have some really fantastic prompts and meet cute ideas that hopefully I'll use someday for oneshots. I've written out a couple of bases for some Klance ones with it. When I'm more familiar with Shiro I'm gonna use them to write some more Sheith oneshots too <3


	3. Chapter 3

It came through Hunk.  

He and Keith finally made it back to the flat after their days lectures, ready to sit and figure out their reading materials and what the minimum they could get away with was. Hunk was already home, getting dinner ready with Shay sat at the small island where they ate their food, giving a shy wave and a kind smile. She really was a gem.  

It was his entire fault, really. If Lance could just keep his mouth shut for five goddamn seconds then he wouldn't have been in this mess.  

'Hey,' he greeted as he walked to the fridge to find the milkshake bottles. 'How's your day been?'  

Shay's smile widened and her eyes lit up, earrings glittering as the light hit them. 'It's been wonderful! We went out for lunch and then bumped into one of Hunk's friends from the robotics club. I didn't realise how...detailed their conversations could be.'  

Keith snorted at that as he sat down next to her. 'That's one way to describe it.'  

'That's great, we had a pretty good day too. I discovered that Keith has a daddy kink.'  

'Dude!' Keith spluttered, face quickly turning a flamboyant red. 'What the fuck?!'  

Shay covered her mouth but Lance could  _see_ her shoulders start to shake. Hunk was less subtle about it as he turned with a long sigh, knife in one hand as he shook his head. 'Oh, Keith. I'm very disappointed in you.'  

'No this is not okay I do not have a-a-!' He threw his arms in the air. 'He is taking it entirely out of context!'  

'Uhuh, I'm sure he is. So who's the lucky guy?'  

Lance grinned wide. 'Our  _substitute lecturer_.'  

'Wow seriously?'  

Keith continued to fume. 'No, not seriously-well, okay so yeah sort of but this is still out of context and he is making it out to be a lot worse than it is!'  

'You should've seen him in class, practically drooling over the guy. It was beautiful.'  

'At least I didn't wake up in a stranger's car and nearly have the police called on me!'  

Shay's eyes widened even more as her head snapped to Lance. Hunk was silent, mouth gaping open as he stared at his best friend.  

'I didn't nearly have the police called on me. She was totally bluffing.'  

'Sure she was. Whatever you need to tell yourself to make you feel better.'  

Hunk put the knife down and approached Lance, grasping hold of his shoulder. 'Wait, wait, back up. You woke up in a stranger's car?'  

'Yeah, I guess when we went out last night I didn't come home with you guys, and went off with some of my course mates? Anyway, when I woke up this morning I was in this girl's car, and she was screaming and-it was very traumatic. I rang Keith to come pick me up, cause I knew you guys were busy.'  

Hunk's head snapped to Shay. Back to Lance. Over to Keith.  

Keith rolled his eyes. 'This is not the weirdest thing that Lance has ever done why are you so shocked?'  

'Uh...' He shrugged and went back to the chopping board. 'Nothing, nothing at all.'  

Lance wasn't letting that go. 'Oh no you don't, explain. Tell me. What is this?'  

'What is what?'  

'This thing you're doing-Shay, explain?'  

She held up her hands, resolutely staying well out of it.  

'So,' Hunk broke. 'You know Shay said we bumped into my friend from the robotics club?' He waited for Lance to nod and show he was following. 'She-uh-she was in a pretty bad mood and started telling us about how when she went down to her car this morning there was some-!' He choked on the words. 'Person. Let's go with person-in her car.'  

Lance's eyes narrowed. 'Brunette? Wears glasses? Hair's kinda short, had it pulled back into the world's tiniest bun?'  

'Yeah that sounds like Pidge.'  

'Tiny-like I'm talking could be mistaken for a child kinda tiny?'  

'She's pretty short.'  

'Wait did you say Pidge? What kind of name is Pidge?'  

'I think it's like a nickname.'  

Keith had a wicked smile on his face as he spoke. 'What did she actually call him? I know it wasn't person.'  

Hunk weighed his options. 'It wasn't important.'  

'Tell me, Hunk. I need to know.'  

'I think she said fuck boy? Which, obviously, is why I'm so surprised that it's you, because you are not a fuck boy.'  

Keith howled.  

'Shut up you!' Lance snapped, throwing the still unopened milkshake bottle across at the man who caught it. Unsurprisingly. 'I can't believe that little-little- _gremlin_!'  

'Calm down Lance. Let's not do anything rash.'  

'I'm going to find her car. And...key it!'  

'No let's not key my friend's car.'  

'She called me a fuck boy!'  

'Well, I mean, you did kind of pass out drunk in her car. I can see why she'd be a little upset.'  

'Oh no. I am so not okay with this. Keith, you gotta drive me to Altea.'  

'I'm hungry.'  

'Eat after. Or I'll get you something on the way as a thank you.'  

Keith raised a brow. 'How about no?'  

'Uh, Lance?'  

The Cuban boy ignored Hunk. 'Please? I'll do anything, Keith. I promise.'  

'That's what you said last time I drove you on some dumb adventure.'  

'You enjoyed it, don't lie.'  

Hunk persisted. 'Lance, seriously. Where's your wallet?'  

'Not now, Hunk. It's in my jacket or something I don't know.'  

Keith's eyes widened and skimmed across Lance's figure.  

'What? What's that look for?'  

'Maybe I will be taking you to Altea.'  

'Why?'  

'I thought you  _wanted_ to go?'  

Hunk finally lost patience and grasped hold of Lance's shoulders, spinning him round and bringing their faces close. 'Lance, where's your jacket?'  

Lance raised a brow. He opened his mouth to answer. He didn't have an answer.  

'I got a text from Pidge.'  

'No.'  

'Yes, Lance. You've left your jacket in her car.'  

There was a snort of laughter. Lance pinned Shay and Keith with a glare. 'This isn't funny!'  

'Sorry-sorry, I didn't mean to laugh!'  

'I did.'  

Dark blue eyes turned back to Hunk. 'What do I do?'  

'I mean I guess I could pick it up from her next robotics club meeting, but that's in like three days.'  

'I can't be without my wallet for three days!'  

Hunk took a step back and withdrew his phone, thumbs tapping away on the touch screen. 'Alright hang on, let me tell her I know you.'  

'I can't believe this is happening.'  

'...my flatmate...where are...you now...?'  

'How could I leave my jacket in her car?!'  

Hunk's eyes were trained on the screen as Lance continued to ask questions at the sky.  

'I can't do it. I can't face her again after this morning. It's not happening.'  

'Ah!' Hunk raised a finger. 'She's at the library! She was getting her books out the car when she found your jacket. Apparently it's got your wallet in it, that's how she found your ID. Your library card.'  

Lance hesitated. He could ask her to hand it in at the desk, go collect it before class the next day. How desperate really was he for the jacket? It wasn't like he planned on going out at any point before tomorrow, it wouldn't be too much trouble. But there was a tiny, miniscule part of his brain that encouraged him he should get it now, and that he'd put her through enough trouble. That maybe he owed this strange girl an apology for probably scaring her half to death that morning. Even if she did call him names.  

The tiny part of his brain began to grow as Hunk looked at him with wide brown eyes that pleaded for a positive answer, those puppy dog chocolate orbs full of hope and requesting that he didn't let the team down. As usual. He was cornered. He'd do anything for Hunk.  

' _Keith_.'  

'Walk.'  

Lance whined. 'Why?'  

'The library is literally five minutes away from our house.' 

'But-!'  

'It'll teach you for falling asleep in stranger's cars.'  

‘You were going to drive me to Altea for it!’  

‘Altea’s fifteen minutes away, not five.’  

Lance huffed. He couldn't really argue with that one.  

Hunk's shining smile made it worth it. 'Really? You're going to get it now?'  

'Yes, I'll go get it now.'  

'Great! I'll text Pidge and let her know. I'll give her your number if that's okay? So you can find her when you get there?'  

'Sure, yeah, whatever,' he dragged his feet to the front door. 'Save me food, yeah? Don't eat it all.'  

'I'll save you some don't worry!'  

He sucked up every bit of pride he could and accepted his fate. To go and face the random girl.  

The walk to the library was an easy one; Keith wasn't lying when he said it was only a short walk. By the time he arrived and fished his phone out his pocket he had a text from an unknown number instructing him to meet them on the second floor. He trudged up the stairs and fired a reply confirmation letting them know he was there and headed straight for the only place you'd ever need to be on the second floor: by the movies.  

She wasn't there.  

He glanced around as he got his phone out to send another text, not really wanting to have to wander round looking for her for the next ten minutes.  

'Hey.'  

He spun round and  _wow_ when they were both standing facing each other he really got an appreciation for how damn short she was. She didn't even reach his shoulders.  

'This is yours.'  

Her arm was holding up his jacket in offering.  

Lance reached out to take it, but it was torn out his grasp at the last second.  

'Hey what the heck?!'  

'I want an apology.'  

He narrowed his eyes. 'You can't just hold my jacket hostage!'  

'I can and I will,' she moved it behind her. 'Apology. I think I deserve one.'  

'Alright then, short stuff. I'm sorry I left my jacket in your car.'  

Her lips pulled downwards. 'Not good enough.'  

'Oh so now my apology is going to be graded?'  

'You fell asleep in my car! You could've given me a heart attack!'  

'Yeah, but I didn't, did I?'  

'How are you friends with Hunk?'  

Lance stopped short at the question. 'Eh? We've been friends for ages. We were roommates in first year.'  

'Ah, that explains it. He's trapped by obligation.'  

'Hey! I'm a perfectly good friend!'  

'Perfectly good friends are able to give perfectly good apologies.'  

He bit back a growl. Do it for Hunk. It would make him happy. 'Fine. I'm sorry that I fell asleep in your car and nearly gave you a heart attack. Better?'  

There was a moment where her calculating gaze drifted across his face before she lowered her defensive stance and held the jacket out for him again. This time she didn't pull back when he grasped hold of it and pulled it round his body.  

'What are you doing here anyway?' He snapped. 'Movie night or something?'  

Her nose crinkled. 'Yes. My brother sent me.'  

He raised a brow. 'Do you not like movies or something?'  

'Of course I like movies, I mean I guess I'm not a big movie buff or anything but there's nothing wrong with them.'  

'Why do you look like you've drank vinegar then?'  

She rolled her eyes and folded her arms across her chest. 'I just don't see why I had to come all the way to the library to pick out a dumb movie. Why couldn't he just stream it online?'  

Lance did a double take. 'Woah, woah, slow down there pipsqueak. Do you know how lucky we are that our library has such an extensive movie collection?' He gestured behind him at the eight rows. 'Sure it's not much, but most libraries don't even have this anymore!'  

'Yeah, because it's impractical. There's other things you could do with this space.'  

'Nope. I refuse to listen to you blaspheme. There is nothing better than having the actual real DVD to put in your chosen player to watch your film. Streaming on some sketchy website online does not compare.'  

She scoffed. 'And I suppose you're some film expert, huh?'  

'I wouldn't go so far as to call me an expert, but I have been known to have a rather exquisite cinematic taste, yes.'  

'Gross.'  

He flicked at his fringe in a melodramatic motion. 'I know, I know, rather impressive. Ladies dig it.'  

'Dig a hole for you to lie in maybe.'  

'You know this whole sarky gremlin thing that you have going on is really crushing my mood.'  

She glared. 'Good.'  

'So what movie you getting?'  

The glare faltered. Her eyes flickered sideways and she shifted her weight from foot to foot. 'Well...'  

'You don't even know? I thought your brother sent you?'  

'He did. He just...didn't tell me what to get.'  

'Wow. What a jackass.'  

She groaned. 'I know. I guess I'll just...' She leant forward, reaching a hand out. 'Take this one?'  

'No don't do it to yourself.'  

'What?' She pulled back. 'Why not?'  

'Keith likes that one.'  

'Who's Keith? And why is that a bad thing?' She scowled. 'If someone likes it doesn't that mean it'll be good?'  

Lance laughed. How adorable. She didn't know why it was a bad thing. 'You poor lost soul, Keith has a dreadful taste in films. Last week I caught him in his room binge watching the Friday the Thirteenth films which, sure yeah the first couple were good in their time I guess, but he was watching the one set in space. All of the films in the world, and  _that's_ what he decided to spend hours of his life on.'  

She hesitated.  

He waited.  

'Fine. What would you pick?'  

'That depends. What kind of movies does your brother like?'  

'Comedy I guess?'  

'You guess?'  

'Usually he watches and I play some game.'  

Lance shook his head. She was worse off than he thought. 'Alright, comedy. You're in the robotics club, right?' 

'...Yes?'  

'So something a little on the nerdy side.'  

'Hey!'  

He searched the shelves, passing by several different possible movie titles before he landed on the right one. The perfect one for her to have. He smirked as he finally landed his eyes on one, tearing it off the shelf and holding it up with pride.  

'Evolution.'  

'What?'  

Of course she didn't know what it was. 'Evolution. Trust me. Just trust me on this one. Take it as my apology gift.'  

She pursed her lips. 'Fine. I honestly couldn't care. Give.'  

He put the film in her grabby hands.  

'Thanks. I guess.'  

'You're very welcome. Thanks for my jacket.'  

She ducked her head down. 'Yeah sure. See you around or something.'  

Her ponytail bounced as she hurried away to the desk to check the movie out. He puffed his chest out and wandered out the library with a sense of satisfaction, feeling like he'd successfully done a deed good enough to cancel out the drunken mishap. At least this one. There would be more. He wasn't going to lie.  

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know this chapter is mostly Pidge and Lance, but I'll probably end up with pure Sheith chapters too further down the line. I try to keep my chapters not too long because while I love long chapters, I have a really short attention span and I also tend to read while I'm doing things so I write as if I was reading it.


	4. Chapter 4

_I'll give you this one. It was a pretty good film._

Three days after The Incident in the car, this was the message Lance got from the number that he hadn't bothered to save in his phone. It took a solid minute to figure out who the fuck was texting him, but realisation slowly dawned as he pinned the only person he had recommended films to in the last week. Which, alright it was more than just one person, but she was the one who stuck out. 

He smirked as he tapped out a reply, swelling with pride.  _I told u bro. Trust me._

With that he put the phone down, out of sight and out of mind. He never got a reply and as far as he was concerned he was happy with that. The sooner he could leave the embarrassment that was The Incident in the past the better. 

He was going to have to start coming up with a way to categorise or code these incidents he went through. They were countless and easily confused with one another. 

'Hey Lance! Can you gimme a hand here?' 

He sprung to his feet and went to the front door where Hunk was struggling with three bags of groceries. There was a bit of a scuffle as two were transferred to Lance but the pair managed it, quickly falling in sync with each other. 

'What's all this stuff for?' Lance asked as they moved to the kitchen and Hunk started to unpack. 

'Ah, well, you see, I thought that maybe it'd be nice if I like, made Shay a romantic dinner kind of thing? So I went out to get all the stuff I'd need for it, I know that carbonara is her favourite food and I wanna do it justice, you know? So, yeah, that's what all this stuff is for.' 

'When you doing it?' 

The smile was sheepish. 'Well that's what I wanted to talk to you about. Do you or Keith have plans tonight?' 

Lance scowled. 'I can't believe this. You're gonna kick me out my own flat.' 

'It's alright if you can't! I can do another night, I just-!' 

He held up a hand and stuck his nose in the air. 'Ah! Nope! The damage is done! I guess I'll just have to go out, find a nice girl to dance around town with!' 

'Take Keith with you, would you?' 

'What? Now you're just pushing your luck. I can't believe you want me to tarnish my good reputation by being seen in public with  _Keith_ of all people.' 

'You hang out with Keith all the time.' 

'Not in the evening and at bars though. Which is what I was planning on doing. Going to a bar.' 

'I'll owe you one.' 

'You'll owe me more than one,' Lance said as he drew his phone out, pressing the number two speed dial and raising the phone to his ear. 'You owe me so man-Keith!' 

_'...Yeah?'_

'No need to sound so enthusiastic. What you doing tonight?' 

_'There's a livestream of-!'_

'Yep, nope, change of plans. You're coming out with me!' Lance threw his free arm wide in the air. 'We're gonna go drinking! Or dancing! Night on the town!' 

_'Do I have to?'_

'Hunk and Shay are having a romantic dinner so if you want to crash that then-!' 

_'Fine, I'll come out with you. We're going to Passion though.'_

Lance groaned. The rock club that played a little too many screaming songs. 'Can't we alternate?' 

_'Fair. Is that everything?'_

He grinned wide as he affirmed the plans before giving Hunk a pat on the back as he disappeared to get ready. Maybe a singles night out wouldn't be so much a bad idea, seeing as Hunk was now unable to be his wingman. 

 

 

* * *

It was easily one of the worst decisions of Keith's life. Maybe that was exaggerating a little bit. Lance had agreed to go to Passion, and they'd stayed for two drinks, before moving on to a club of Lance's choice. Of course that meant throbbing pop music and cringe worthy outfits that girls and boys wore. 

They had seen some of the other students that went to their University out on the dance floor when they arrived, but so far Lance had thankfully stuck by his side. Despite his moments of stupidity Keith knew that his flatmate wasn’t completely oblivious when it came to his friends. It was probably one of the few things he wasn’t oblivious about. 

It did mean that Keith had to suffer through another round of bitching and moaning though. 

'I mean can you believe it?!' Lance exclaimed as he joined Keith leaning on the railing that overlooked the dance floor, the bar behind them. 'Kicked out our own flat!' 

Keith hummed and took the drink Lance offered. 'He's allowed to have a date in the flat. You've done it before.' 

'Yeah but at least I gave you warning.' 

'I've walked in on enough shit from you that I can confirm you do not always give warning.' 

'There's a difference between a date and being chained up and left, Keith.' 

He grimaced at the memory. Nyma had been a bitch and he really didn't know what Lance had been expecting, but he didn't think any of them had expected to come home and find Lance handcuffed butt naked to their dining room table. 

'I just...' Lance trailed off with a sigh. 'I don't want this to be his whole life, you know?' 

Keith didn't. He really didn't get it. 'What do you mean?' 

'Like do you remember when he first joined the robotics club?' 

It had been their first year. He was new to their little friendship group, and it had arguably been good in the long run. He and Lance never got along, but when Hunk was removed from the picture as their mediator it got even worse. 'Yeah, he kind of ditched us for it.' 

'Exactly!' 

'But then it kind of forced us to hang out more.' 

'Which ended up with me getting a black eye.' 

'And,' Keith argued. 'Ended up with us having an intervention and forcing him to not be so obsessive over things. If it wasn't for that, we would've never bonded.'

'We would've  _eventually_ bonded.' 

Keith wasn't convinced. 

'But it doesn't matter! What if he does the obsessive thing again? What if soon it'll be less "can I have the flat tonight" and more "wow Hunk you're not using the flat tonight this is such a surprise"?' 

His concerns weren't...entirely unwarranted. 'I get what you mean.' 

'I don't want to have to stage another intervention!' 

'Shay's not the robotics club though. She's a human being who has a life to live. Hunk promised he wouldn't do it again.' 

Lance grunted. 'Yeah, he said that when we were in high school and got his World of Warcraft subscription cancelled too.' 

Legitimate panic. That is what Keith was feeling. 'He's not going to...abandon us again, is he?' 

That made the Cuban boy stop. He looked up with wide eyes, finally seeing Keith properly. 'What?' 

Keith scowled down at the dancefloor. 'I mean, you said he did it with WoW, and then with robotics, maybe...' 

'No, Keith, you're meant to be telling me I'm crazy and dumb, you're not meant to believe me.' 

'What if you're not being crazy and dumb?' 

Lance grasped hold of his shoulders and forced them to face each other. 'Hunk isn't going to abandon us.' 

'Yeah?' 

'Yeah. We-we won't let him!' 

Keith's lips quirked upwards. 'You're right. We won't.' 

'We will be so damn persistent he can't ignore us. And you know, you're right. We should take full advantage of this situation.' 

'How?' 

Lance grasped at the air. 'Last time it made us friends, right? We should take advantage as the two single guys in the flat to live it up. Let our hair down. Or maybe tie yours up. Or get it cut.' 

'I thought we'd moved past making fun of my hair.' 

'We will never move past making fun of your hair.' 

Keith rolled his eyes. 'Alright, so the two single guys. Are you wanting me to play wingman?' 

He grinned. 'You're catching on.' 

'I have no idea how to do that.' 

'Then this will be a great learning experi-oh my fuck.' 

Keith groaned as a familiar upbeat song came on, though it quickly turned to laughter as Lance whooped. 

'This is my jam! You dancing?' 

'Not on your life.' 

Lance snorted. 'Suit yourself, mullet. Hold my drink.' 

Keith took the glass and watched his flatmate wave madly at some of their classmates on the dance floor, disappearing for the foreseeable future. Keith rolled his eyes and decided that Lance probably wouldn't notice if he drank both their drinks. He'd probably be gone long enough. 

'You not going to dance?' 

The velvet voice sent a shiver down his spine, even when it was shouting over the sound of music. He spun round with wide eyes to see a smile that he had in fact been unable to wipe from his brain and glittering eyes that seemed inky black in the dim lighting of the club. They reminded him of space. 

'Huh?' 

Wow. Intelligent. Well done. 

Shiro lent on the railing with him, looking down at the dance floor and the tables that encircled it. 'I said are you not going to dance?' 

'Oh no, I don't-I'm not really into...shit music.' 

'What brings you here then?' 

Keith gestured at the dance floor with Lance's glass to where the boy was jumping around. 

'Ah, of course. You two seem pretty close...' 

'He's been following me around since first year and I can't seem to shake him.' 

Shiro quirked a brow. 'Yet it sounds like you followed him here.' 

Keith scoffed. 'It's part of the mind games. Keep him on his toes. Lure him into a false sense of security.' 

'Very cunning of you.' 

'Thank you.' 

'I'll have to remember it for future reference. I'd hate to think you’d use such underhanded tactics on me.' 

His lips quirked upwards. 'Don't worry. I wouldn't do such a thing to a stranger.' 

It took Shiro a couple of moments to realise what he was talking about before he straightened and attempted to look offended. 'I taught you biology, and I still count as a stranger?' 

'Hey, for all I know you're here to enjoy the shitty music. I can't move you to acquaintance if that's the case.' 

Inky eyes narrowed. 'I prefer something with a little more guitar and a little less synthesised keyboard.' 

Keith tore his eyes away from the strong jawline before he began to lose his cool. It was proving difficult to keep his eyes on the bigger man. He was overwhelming. 'I'm glad to hear it. Maybe we're getting somewhere.' 

'What about you? Seeing as you're not here for you, where would you be if it was your choice?' 

'My choice was Passion.' 

Shiro snorted. 

'What?!' Keith snapped his head to face the man. 'What's so funny?' 

'Nothing-it's just-!' He bit down on his lower lip as he formulated the words. 'Isn't that where all the weird little emo teenagers hang out?' 

Keith didn't expect for him to actually know the place. Shit. 'Yeah, I guess, but I like the music.'

'That's fair. Maybe you should try the German bar down the street. It's a little...classier, but with less pop.' 

'So who's dragged you here if it's not by choice?' 

Shiro turned and gestured to the bar where a familiar woman with cloud-like hair stood laughing with another man. 'Allura and Matt. She likes to dance, he likes to collect data and do social experiments on unsuspecting victims.' 

'They sound delightful.' 

'You get used to them.' 

It was the woman from the store, who had dragged Shiro away the first time. 

'You should come to the next bar with us, if you're really that uncomfortable here.' 

Keith smirked up at the man. 'Should you really be fraternizing with the students?' 

The man faltered and cleared his throat. 'I mean I'm only covering a couple of Coran's classes while he and Allura deal with a family matter, I'm just a PhD student, I could hardly call myself a member of staff and-!' 

'I'm just joking,' Keith assured with a tremor of laughter in his voice. 'I'd like to, but I'm not sure Lance would be up for it. And I'm not going to leave him alone again after what happened last time.' 

'What happened last time?' 

Keith shrugged. 'He wound up really drunk and woke up in this girl's car. I'm surprised he didn't come back with a black eye.' 

Though if he was completely honest, black eyes were more his thing than Lance's. He wasn't about to admit that to the Hot Substitute Teacher. 

Shiro accepted this with a smile dancing on his lips. 'Somehow I can imagine your friend doing that.' 

'Shiro!' 

The pair turned to see the same woman who interrupted them last time waving him over once again. She was out to get them, stumbling over and practically falling into Shiro's arms. The two of them really were quite attractive, Keith had to admit. They looked cute together. 

'Matt's bailed on me to go do his thing in the smoking area. Are you coming to dance?' 

'If you insist.' 

She turned, blue eyes locking onto Keith for a few moments. 'Sorry to drag him away!' 

'It's fine, really. You have fun dancing.' 

A glint in the corner of her eye. 'Thank you. I hope I wasn't-?!' 

'Come on, Allura. If we're going to dance let's dance.' 

She giggled at his words and allowed herself to be led to the dance floor, the pair sticking close by and falling into an easy rhythm together. It was difficult to tear his eyes away from the scene in front of him, watching the attractive if not a little awkward way that Shiro moved around the dance floor. It was endearing. Though perhaps that was just the beaming smile. 

'Hot diggidy damn who is our favourite Professor here with cause she is one fine lady?' 

Keith jumped out his skin. 

'And have you been drinking my drink?' 

He turned with a glare. 'You left it with me. I thought it was an invitation.' 

'Fuck you, Keith.' 

'It's Allura. He's here with her, and another person called Matt.' 

'Huh. Do you think he can get me her number?' 

Keith rolled his eyes. 'Don't you have some other chick to harass?' 

'Compliment, Keith. I compliment them.' 

'Uhuh. That's what I'd call it.' 

'So I saw you. Flirting away. Before you were interrupted.' 

'I was not flirting.' 

'Sounds fake, but okay.' 

'I wasn't!' 

Lance raised a brow and took Keith's drink. Spiteful git. 'What would you call it then?' 

'Casual conversation.' 

'Shall I go get him back over? I could do a cheesy pickup line on your behalf. Hey, have you met my friend-?!' 

'Not happening.' 

'You're so boring. Have you seen anyone other than Shiro who's caught your eye?' 

Nope. 

Lance rolled his eyes. 'Alright, finish your drink. Next we're hitting the scene.' 

'You want to go to the scene?' 

'I want to get your mind off our, admittedly hot,  _Professor_ , and onto someone a little more attainable.' 

'Is this another one of your attempts at getting me laid?' 

'I don't care what you say. It's going to happen eventually.' 

Keith scoffed. 'Sure, whatever.' 

Lance raised the glass to his lips and began to chug the rest of his drink. Keith rose to the unspoken challenge, drinking quickly and filling his mouth with liquid in order to have his glass hit the table first. He won. Unsurprisingly. 

'Let's go!' Lance pumped a fist in the air. 'We may not be able to bring anyone home, but we can sure as hell try!' 

'I'm not sure how that works.' 

'Fuck your logic!' 

Keith shook his head as he chuckled, allowing Lance to throw an arm round his shoulder as they made their way out of the club, the beat of the music still travelling up through his feet to his heart. 

He spared one last glance in the direction he knew Shiro to be. Another person with choppy fair brown hair had joined them, presumably the mysterious "Matt". He and Allura did a big spin as Shiro's eyes locked with Keith's for a few moments, a small two fingered salute being sent his way as time seemed to slow to a near stop and distract him from the arm round his shoulder. 

But then they were out, and the cold air was hitting his face and stopping him from thinking much more about the man inside the club as Lance chattered on about nothing in particular. If there was one thing he needed it was a distraction, and Lance was a master at providing those. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I like to sit and imagine what kind of things the Voltron squad watch. Like I imagine Hunk to really quite like emotional, touching stories, and Lance to just really like movies and TV shows, where Keith watches whatever's on but in his own time he'll sit on YouTube for hours or watch documentaries like Planet Earth because normal movies he'll pick holes in. But if they all sit down together they could marathon the Die Hard movies.


	5. Chapter 5

'Good afternoon, class. As you know, Professor Shirogane here covered this class last week as I had other matters to attend to, but upon reflection it has been agreed that he will be teaching you for the rest of the term. He is one of my PhD students, and such a hardworking and talented individual that I know you are in good hands!' 

Keith felt Lance nudge him pointedly. He ignored it. He didn't need Lance ruining his day even more. 

'A student lecturer is still a lecturer, so I expect you to give Professor Shirogane just as much respect as you would any other Professor. Are there any questions?' The ginger man smiled wide and pulled on his moustache. 'No? Good! Shiro, you may begin.' 

'Thank you, Coran...'

Keith finally relented to Lance's persistent nudging. 'What do you  _want_?'

'Just, you know, checking up on my best bro.'

'I thought Hunk was your best bro.' 

'Yes but Hunk isn't here, is he?' 

'What do you want, Lance?' 

A wide, shit eating grin. 'So I guess dream-boat is dream-Professor now huh?' 

He groaned at the words. Trust Lance to blow this whole thing out of proportion. 'Why are you still on this?' 

'It's not often someone catches your eye. Excuse me for finding it entertaining.' 

'I went out with you the other day looking at people!' 

'Yeah, and how many did you see that you liked?' 

Keith scrunched his nose up at the mere suggestion that there was even one. Lance levelled him with a flat look. He rolled his eyes and relented. 'Fine, but can you at least mock me in private where people can't overhear?' 

'Oh please, like anyone faults you for liking that hot piece of-?!' 

'Lance?' 

The pair stopped and turned to the front of the class where Shiro was standing with his arms crossed, looking up at them with a single raised brow. They exchanged a quick worried look. Lance swallowed. 'Uh, yes sir?' 

'Do you have something you'd like to share?' 

'He really doesn't,' Keith supplied, not trusting his flatmate in the slightest. 'He has absolutely nothing to share.' 

'Nope,' Lance agreed. 'Not a diddly darned thing.' 

'Maybe keep the chatter till after class then, yeah?' 

'Whatever you say boss-man.' 

He returned to the lecture he was giving and Keith breathed a sigh of relief. Lance slumped down in his chair and gave a slightly more dramatic sigh as the heat was taken off them and their classmates finally stopped giving them the stink-eye. One day they'd get through a lecture without someone shooting them a dirty look, but it wasn't going to be today. 

Lance thankfully took the hint and began to make notes, finally dropping the topic all together. Keith had no doubt in his mind that he'd capitalise on it later, but hopefully later would be in the comfort of their own home. 

Which left him distractionless staring down at the man who would be taking over this class for the rest of the semester. The man who invited him to some bar the other night after a brief conversation and a couple of jokes, who Lance claimed he had been flirting with. But this was Lance, and a couple of smiles and a giggle was all it took to get him going. 

There was a particular charm to the way that Shiro's eyes lit up as he broached on certain aspects of the topic, the way he used his arms to emphasise elements of speech. That lilt to his voice that just kept things a little bit more interesting and easy to listen to. Or maybe that was just generally his voice. That silky, satiny voice. 

Keith groaned quietly and buried his face in his arms, folding up in on himself at the desk. Lance sniggered next to him in a way that made Keith fully aware he knew why he was acting like this. 

_Fuck_ he was really gay. 

* * *

Lance hadn't spoken to Hunk's robotics buddy since that one text confirming that he had a good taste in movies. Of course he had a good taste in movies, he didn't need some strange youth to tell him that, though the compliment was always appreciated. 

Movies were what brought him to the library that particular afternoon after lectures once Keith had separated to go off to go to the gym as he so often did. He caught the flash of light brown hair, and the glint of round glasses. At first he didn't think anything of it, just another person in the crowd. It was when he heard the frustrated noise that promised entertainment he thought of investigating further. 

She was there, scratching her head and glaring at the choices laid out in front of her. His face split into a grin and he positioned himself on the other side of the shelf, watching for a few moments as she mentally battled with the options. It was kind of cute in a weird-little-sister kind of way. 

'Hey there, what's a pretty girl like you doing in a place like this?' 

She honest to god jumped out her skin. 

'You!' 

Lance's grin widened. 'Me.' 

'What are you doing here?!' 

'Well, I don't know if you picked up on this, but seeing as I like both physical copies of movies and also go to this very university, it's not exactly unusual for me to hang around these parts. You, on the other hand,  _heathen_ as you are, do not hang around these parts.' 

'How astute of you.' 

'Thank you. I do try.' 

'I had to return the movie I got last time you saw me here.' 

'Wow, you took your sweet time.' 

She rolled her eyes at him. 'It's been like a week.' 

'Uhuh, whatever. Excuses, excuses. I know for a fact you finished that movie  _days_ ago because you sent me a message telling me how amazing I was for picking it.' 

'I think you're remembering the text wrong.' 

'Nope. Definitely said amazing. So are you wishing for some sage advice on more films because, if so, I can provide it?' 

She hesitated for five seconds before letting out a huff. 'Alright. Yes. That would be appreciated.' 

'Knew it. Has your brother sent you again?' 

'No...this time it's for me.' 

He tried to resist the urge to let out one of his signature dramatic gasps. He failed. 'For yourself?!' 

'Yes.' 

'Wow. I am shook. I guess what I said about whatever it was I was talking about really left an impression on you, huh?' 

'No, it didn't, but I figured seeing as I'm here I may as well indulge.' 

'Sure. I believe you.' 

'I'm conducting an experiment, you see,' she smirked up at him and adjusted her glasses. 'Is there a correlation between certain social activities and idiots?' 

'You know what, I'm in a good, generous mood today, so I'm going to let that slide, because I know you were trying to insult me. But I'm bigger than that.' 

'I'm pretty sure you're not.' 

'I'm going to help you find a film instead,' he made his way round to where she was stood, looking down at the collection in front of them. Someone needed to sort these things out because he could not find order. 

Maybe that was his fault. For always moving the films around the shelves. 

'What kind of movies do you usually watch?' 

'Good ones.' 

'Right, okay, this clearly wasn't a bad idea. What do you define as a good movie?' 

She grimaced at the question and shrugged. 

'It's not rocket science, Pidge.' 

'I know. That's easier.' 

'What do you look for in a story?' 

'Something entertaining?' 

'Right, I'm going to assume that means you're not picky on genre. Well made films regardless of what they're from.' 

'Yeah! That sounds right.' 

'You get on with Hunk, right?' 

'He's a good guy. Intelligent.' 

'He is. You both hang out at the Nerd Club.' 

' _Excuse you_?' 

Lance smirked and whipped the movie out, stopping the girl in her tracks. ‘The Amazing Spiderman.’ 

‘No.’ 

‘What?!’ he gasped and looked between the movie cover and Pidge. ‘What do you mean no?!’ 

‘I mean, no I don't want to watch it. There's a reason I haven't watched it yet.’ 

‘How can you call yourself a nerd and have not seen The Amazing Spiderman. It’s amazing!’ 

She rolled her eyes. ‘I don’t call myself a nerd, you call me a nerd. And I never particularly wanted to watch it? I mean, I like Spiderman just as much as the next gal but isn’t Andrew Garfield kinda…’ 

Lance raised a brow expectantly. 

‘Too pretty?’ 

‘You know, some people just take the eye candy and roll with it.’ 

‘He’s supposed to be a geeky, weedy little kid! Andrew Garfield is not that.’ 

‘No, but he’s a pretty good Spiderman.’ 

‘I’ll pass. Give it a few years, they’ll change it up again. Maybe eventually they’ll get it right.’ 

‘Alright, fine, so you hate Spiderman.’ 

‘That is not what I said!’ 

Lance ignored her and continued to go through the movies they passed. ‘What about a classic. Something away from comic books. What about…’ he caught it. ‘The Princess Bride?’ 

‘Wow, you went from geek to loser really quickly there.’ 

‘I’ll have you know this movie is timeless,’ Lance insisted. ‘And also really entertaining. And you can’t argue the of it being adapted incorrectly because it’s not a comic book film.’ 

She was smirking up at him. ‘Okay, you’ve piqued my interest. Why this one? I would’ve thought you’d pick something a little more manly.’ 

‘I’ll have you know that this film is super manly. Also I have two sisters, so I’ve seen a lot of chick flicks in my time. This one wasn’t half bad.’ 

She held out a hand. ‘If I watch it will you get off my back?’ 

He grinned and held the movie high. ‘Sure, I’ll go check it out and then we can go back to your place. You live in Altea, don’t you? Closer than my flat.’ 

‘Wait-what do you mean  _we_?’ 

‘I mean we. Me and you. You and I. Movie night.’ 

‘Oh no, no,’ she reached up to grasp the film. He used his superior arm length to hold it above his head and out her reach. ‘I am picking a film for me. On my own. You’re not invited.’ 

‘But I picked the film you have to let me watch it with you.’ 

‘That’s bullshit. Why should I let you watch it with me?’ 

‘Because I have to see your reactions. I have to be there for it, it’s a very important moment.’ He raised his arm higher, smirking down. ‘You know, you’re kind of at a disadvantage here.’ 

‘Not if I knee you in the crotch.’ 

‘You wouldn’t.’ 

She raised a brow. ‘You willing to take that chance?’ 

He narrowed his eyes and tried to figure out how bad he really wanted to watch a film with the little gremlin. The answer was a lot. He really wanted to watch a film with her. Watching people react to his film recommendations was singularly one of his most favourite things to do with his time. 

‘Fine.’ 

‘Yes!’ 

‘I will watch this one movie with you if you promise to get off my back afterwards.’ 

‘I promise. You’re not going to regret this.’ 

‘I already am.’ 

‘You’re gonna be so glad you decided to come down and get a physical copy. You’re gonna want to do it every night.’ 

'I'm really not.' 

He clutched the case close to his chest and ignored the way her tiny little smile created tiny little dimples in her cheeks. There she went again with that weird little-sister-kind of cute thing. What a weirdo. Why did he keep surrounding himself with weirdos? 

Yet he couldn't bring himself to be concerned about that question when they were on the way back to her dorm and she insisted they stopped off for snacks and energy drink, because apparently she liked to watch her movies like she played her games, and if that wasn't the most perfect, friendship worthy way of behaving in the world he didn't know what was. 

It was certainly better than  _ditching_ him for the  _gym_. 

* * *

He thought he would be safe at the gym. 

The gym was the one place he could always count on to take him away from the stress of college or the weight of life's unending problems and leave him in blissful highs full of sweat and mild ache. But the good kind of ache. The burning ache that left you knowing that you did just that little bit better than yesterday. The ache that would leave you satisfied. 

He was no less than twenty minutes in to his usual routine, warm up done and jogging away on the treadmill when someone started up the one  _right next_ to him. There were at least twenty on the floor, and only three of them were in use. Why this joker felt the need to pick the one right next to him was beyond Keith.

He refused to acknowledge them, preferring to jam his headphones in his ears further to emphasise the point he wasn't the kind of guy who liked to chat it up with anyone. 

'….ith...'

He glared at the treadmill, turning up the speed a little more. 

'He...eith.' 

He could ignore whoever this person was. Their voice was barely recognisable over the sound of electric guitars and drumbs. 

The person was persistent. Enough so that they hooked a finger into the wire of his earphones and gave a yank to get them out. 

'Hey!' 

Keith startled and grasped hold of the hand before it could retract, his heart flushing a hot burning anger round his body as he turned to give this guy a piece of his fucking min-! 

Stormy grey eyes. A brilliant smile. A cold hand. 

He stumbled. Shit. He was going down. 

'Woah there!' 

Shiro's fingers grasped round his wrist and pulled him up before he could hit the floor, steadying him and keeping him from falling forward into the machine. The burning anger was replaced with a flood of shame and embarrassment. 

'Don't want you falling for me now.' 

It was a line that he would've expected coming from Lance. He looked up to see Shiro's eyes were wide and his smile had faded into an awkward grimace. 

'That was-not what I was meant to say-it came out very badly I'm sorry.' 

He couldn't help it. Keith felt the embarrassed laughter bubbling in his throat before it burst forward in a quiet chuckle as he found his footing, slamming a hand down on the cooldown button. Shiro finally let go of his wrist and did the same, the redness in his cheeks disappearing as he joined in the laughter. 

'You're a very hard person to grab the attention of.' 

'You're a very persistent person.' 

Shiro chuckled lowly in a way that sent a rush of blood round Keith's body before he spoke. 'I've been told.' 

'You're at my gym now?' 

'I didn't realise you owned the gym.' 

Keith rolled his eyes, finally at walking pace. 'You know what I mean. First you're at my work, then in my class, the club, now my gym?' 

'I'm building myself up past stranger. How am I doing?' 

'You're bordering on annoying acquaintance.' 

'I get the impression that worked for Lance...' 

Lance wasn't a  _hot guy_ though. 'That's one way to put it.' 

'Great, I'm on the right track. And now that I have your attention...' Shiro's grin was going to make Keith's heart pop right out his chest he could feel it. 'Do you need a workout buddy?' 

'I usually workout alone, thanks.' 

'Is that a no?' 

'Why are you so into this whole friendship thing?' Keith gestured to the bigger man as the machines came to a halt and they were left standing and staring at each other. 'Isn't a little weird?' 

'Why, cause I teach you now?' 

'Yeah, that.' 

He shrugged as if it wasn't a big deal. 'I guess I could spin something about a sense of obligation and responsibility to your wellbeing, but honestly? I like spending time with you. I know we haven't done it much, but you're good to talk to.' 

One person had said that to him in his life. Hunk. And Hunk was bias and completely too soft to take his word for it. 

'So, what do you say?' The dazzling smile was back. 'Would you like to hang out at the gym with me?' 

He wouldn't have been able to say no even if he wanted to. 


	6. Chapter 6

The Princess Bride was followed by The Hobbit, which in turn became a few days run of watching the trilogy, and then there was an admission that although she'd  _seen_ the Lord of the Rings, she wasn't entirely against seeing them again now she was in the mood for it. He thought that fantasy might've been a hit but he could've never guessed that sci-fi would be where it was at. 

She eyed the copy of the new Star Trek movie with uncertainty and distrust, like it might eat her alive. Nothing could compare, she insisted. It was wrong to even assume that you could. Why ruin a perfectly aged TV show with  _popular movie demands_? 

Two weeks of this back and forth. That was all it took before she became known in their flat as "Lance's Girlfriend". He laughed it off in the good humoured way that he usually did, assuring Hunk not to be threatened and that he wasn't going to rain on his parade of being the fresh new couple on the block. 

Then  _she_ happened. A wonderful gift to the planet, dressed in a lab coat with a large contraption over her eyes that made him grimace and do a double take. 

'Uh...hi?' He glanced at the number on the door. Definitely Pidge's room. 'Is Pidge home?' 

The girl floundered with the instrument that kind of reminded him of something you'd find in an optician's studio. 'She's just popped out! She should be back soon-I didn't realise you'd be coming round, Lance!' 

'Uhh...' 

She finally undid the final strap and took the device off her head. 'I didn't even know you knew Pidge!' 

Holy  _shit_ it was that hot foreign exchange student from his marine classes. She was on the same course as him, and hung out with the other students who came from her University and was admittedly kind of weird in an almost creepy way. 'Plaxum?!' 

'Yes! You remembered me!' 

'You're in like half my classes, of course I remember you.' 

Her lips tugged up into a sweet smile, her voice nasally. 'What are you doing here?' 

'I was hoping Pidge would be free to watch a film or something.'

She bit down on her pinkie. It was adorable. 'Oh dear. I didn't realise Pidge wanted the room today.' 

'I don't think she knows. I was just passing by.' 

Sort of. Vaguely. He was on his way home and decided to take a detour. 

Plaxum gestured for him to enter the room and he instantly realised what her worry was. Stretched out across the girl's desk was a full chemistry set in operation with several small slides clamped in place on a glass board. She was conducting experiments. There was no way that they'd be able to watch a movie while this was going on. Maybe he should leave before-! 

'Lance?' 

The pair turned to see Pidge standing in the doorway, brown eyes flickering between the pair. Damn. He couldn't pretend it didn't happen now. 

'What're you doing here?' 

He shrugged. 'I was bored. You never answered my calls.' 

'You called me once,' she rolled her eyes. 'And I was driving while it happened.' 

'I see, I see. Following the rules of the road is more important than your movie-buddy Lance-!' 

'Yes. That is correct.' 

'-But I will forgive you on this occasion, seeing as you have a scientific beauty happening in your room right now.' 

Plaxum grinned wide and practically bounced on the spot. 'It is rather spectacular. You're welcome to help if you'd like to, Lance.' 

'I was talking about you,' he clarified with a wink. Her excitement came to a grinding halt as her face flooded pink. 

'Wow, okay, this is weird,' Pidge grasped hold of Lance's jacket and gave a strong yank. 'Out of my room.' 

'Wha-?! Hey!' 

She finally got him over the threshold and gave him a deadpan look as she leant across the frame. 'No weirdos allowed in my room, sorry.' 

'You live in it!' 

'No boys allowed then.' 

He rolled his eyes. 'Like you could resist this.' 

'I definitely could.' 

He grinned wide as he saw the opening, leaning forward to come down to her height. Take the opening. Abuse the power. 'If that was true you would've resisted it every time I movie-call you. Which you haven't.' 

A tinge of pink across freckled cheeks. Perfect. 'That is a lie.' 

'Is not. Name one time that I've asked for a movie-call and you've said no.' 

'Right now. I'm saying no right now-also, movie-call, really?' 

'It's like booty-call except instead of having sex we watch films.' 

'Yeah, I gathered that much. Remember what I said about you making things weird? You're doing it again.' 

'Lies. All lies. So, you gonna hang out with me or what? I'm assuming Plaxum is gonna be a while in there...' 

Pidge's eyes narrowed. She shut the door. 

He counted down from ten. 

Maybe he actually had pushed it a little too far. He couldn't help it though. Pidge was so easy to rile up, and so entertaining to banter with. It kind of reminded him a little bit of his friendship with Keith, except without the animosity when they first met. A healthier friendship than his one with Keith. 

Six. 

Or maybe it was the flirting with her roommate. He could see how that would be a problem. And it would also be a problem if that was a problem because hell-o did you see that girl she was the adorable nerd type which, admittedly wasn't his usual, but maybe that was a good thing for once. 

Two. 

Yeah okay maybe he did push a little too far and needed to give her time to cool off before-?! 

The door opened. Pidge stepped out with her backpack across her shoulders and a slightly-too-large green jacket in her arms. It wouldn't have been complete without the scowl on her face. 

He grinned brightly. 'Really?' 

'I should give Plaxum space to do her thing. What do you even want to do?' 

'Seeing as your room is out of commission for a while, I think we should actually go see a movie.' 

She raised a brow. 'What, like go to the cinema?' 

'Exactly, my little Pidgeon-!' 

'Do not call me that.' 

'-Let's go to the cinema.' 

* * *

It was Keith's turn to do the shop. He had a trolley in front of him, grimacing as he read the messy scrawl on the paper. Hunk had been in a rush when he wrote out what he needed in the fridge and for the house that week and Keith just couldn't find it in himself to complain. He and Lance were both fully aware that they would not quite function properly without the bigger man. 

He reached up for the cheapest toilet roll they had on offer, ignoring Hunk's scribbled request for a more substantial kind. He knew that was at Lance's request, and he also knew that Lance was the one who conveniently forgot to get the right kind of milk last week.

‘You can’t be serious.’ 

Keith startled at the question, turning with a scowl and ready to start a fight. His words caught in his throat as he saw Shiro behind him, a shopping basket in hand. He sucked in a breath, though his scowl didn't disappear. 'What are you talking about?' 

‘Toilet paper? You skimp out on toilet paper?’ 

‘I am a poor college student. I skimp out on everything.’ 

'But toilet paper?' 

Keith smirked. 'You know this is a pretty weird way to say hello, Professor.' 

'I'm sorry, I just couldn't let this injustice slide.' 

The deadpan tone of the man's voice was something Keith couldn't stop himself snorting at. 

Shiro held up the more expensive kind. ‘This is not only softer and kinder on your skin, but also considerably thicker, meaning you go through less of it. In the long run, you spend more money on your cheap sandpaper than I do on my fluffy clouds.’ 

‘Fine then, Mr Bigshot.’ 

‘It’s Professor, actually.’ 

Keith tossed the toilet roll in his hand back onto the shelf and tore the expensive pack from Shiro. ‘What’s in your basket?’ 

Shiro smirked and held the handles open, presenting it proudly. Keith stuck a hand in, rummaging around inside as he went through the contents. It was a pretty basic, average shop. He grasped at the first thing he could think of picking apart and held it up. 

‘What’s wrong with ketchup?’ 

‘Other than the fact that ketchup is gross? This discount, cheap-o ketchup doesn’t even  _taste_ the same as regular ketchup. It’s sweeter. Got more shit in it.’ 

‘Yeah, and?’ Shiro shrugged. ‘I like it.’ 

‘And yet-!’ Keith dropped the bottle in favour of picking up something else. ‘You’re  _buying bottled water_?’ 

That made the tall man’s cheeks darken with shame. ‘I’m picky.’ 

‘You’re weird. You have weird priorities.’ 

‘Tap water just doesn’t taste the same.’ 

‘It’s water. Not champagne.’ 

‘Fine, I’ll accept that it’s a little snobby of me to drink bottled water.’ 

‘A little?’ 

‘But it’s not unreasonable to want nice toilet paper. Trust me.’ 

‘I’ll trust you,’ Keith assured, trying hard not to let his smile get too big. 

Shiro straightened his back as though something had shocked him. ‘Anyway, I best let you get back to it. I’ll see you in class, Keith.’ 

‘Of course,’ a bubble of disappointment. ‘See you in class.’ 

Shiro disappeared without another word. 

For approximately five minutes. 

Keith had his words playing on his mind as he stood in the isle where the instant noodles were, eyes flickering across all the packets available, lingering on the prices. Would there be any credit in what they were talking about on things like this, or did instant noodles just always taste like cardboard? 

He picked up four packets of his usual. And then two of one he’d never had before. 

The next isle over held tins. He caught a flash of black and white hovering by the beans. He smirked and couldn’t resist the urge to approach him. ‘You put some salt in the cheap basic kind and they taste the same.’ 

Shiro’s eyes snapped to him. ‘What?’ 

‘The cheap kind,’ he gestured at a plain tin. ‘You’re meant to put salt and pepper in yourself. If you’re into pepper. The more expensive kind you don’t need to.’ 

‘That seems a little simplistic. I think there’s more to cooking and ingredients than “add salt”.’ 

Keith shrugged as he continued along the isle. ‘Suit yourself, man. You’re missing out on that price difference though.’ 

He bumped into Shiro a total of six times. 

Sometimes he was seeking the taller man out on purpose. Sometimes it felt like he was being sought out, like when Shiro found him in the drinks isle and proceeded to criticise the choice of fizzy pop over juice or something a little healthier, despite the fact that he’d already been down the isle to get his bottled water. 

The last place was the pet food. Keith passed it on his way to the check outs. He stopped when he saw the man standing in front of the cat food. 

‘You have a cat?’ 

Shiro hummed, not even bothering to look across at him. ‘Sort of. There’s a stray who stops by our flat often. He’s a black cat with the most incredible yellow eyes. Allura likes to feed him.’ 

‘Do you have a name for him?’ 

‘I call him Midnight,’ Shiro explained. ‘Matt wants to call him Lord Blastion the Destroyer. We haven’t settled on a compromise yet.’ 

Keith, not for the first time, wondered what Shiro’s flatmates must be like, and the illusive yet incredibly Lance-like sounding Matt. ‘I like Midnight.’ 

Shiro glanced over with a small smile twinkling in his eyes. ‘Me too. This is one thing I don’t skimp out on though,’ he muttered as he finally settled on a food, lifting the large bag under his arm and turning to Keith fully. ‘Midnight deserves the best. We did lots of research into what the best was.’ 

‘I think we can agree on that at least. Animals do deserve the best.’ 

‘Do you have pets?’ 

He shrugged. ‘No, not allowed in our student flat.’ 

‘That’s fair. Are you finished?’ 

‘I am,’ Keith nodded. ‘I got everything on the list that Hunk gave me.’ 

‘I guess this is actually a goodbye, see you in class then.’ 

Keith snorted. ‘Yeah, I guess so.’ 

‘It was nice to see you. Even if you have awful taste in toilet paper.’ 

‘You too. Even if you have awful taste in condiments.’

Shiro gestured for Keith to go first as they headed towards the checkout. He tried to speed through, keeping half an eye on Shiro's queue where the man occasionally glanced behind at him. It sparked an excited bubbling feeling that he recognised as either a crush or the urge to  _compete_. 

He took the latter option. 

Shiro was just a few moments faster. Keith credited it to the fact he only had a basket, while Keith was trying to shove half a trolley into a backpack. He also tried not to think too hard about why the man seemed to walk slowly. 

The pair left the store to a scene that Keith was not prepared to deal with. 

Lance was standing opposite who Keith knew to be Allura, from the amount of times he'd seen her hanging around Shiro. She had the look of thunder on her face, and Lance was looking stunned while one of his hands was holding his cheek and his blue eyes were blown wide. 

Keith groaned and fought down the embarrassment of what he was about to have to deal with in front of their Professor. 

'Lance, what did you  _do_?' 

The Cuban boy looked over with a spluttering anger. 'What?! What makes you think I did  _anything_?' 

'Just tell me what happened.' 

'I just complimented this lovely lady-!' 

'You call that a  _compliment_?!' 

'-And she got all mad and slapped me!' 

Allura turned to Keith with a fire burning in her eyes. 'He did not compliment me. He came at me with some  _awful_ pickup line about space pants, and when I  _politely_ asked him to refrain he just did it again!' 

Keith raised a brow at Lance, who threw his arms in the air. 

'Politely?! Seriously?! If that was your politely then I'd hate to see your rude.' 

'You hit on me!' 

'Yeah, because you're a very pretty lady, I'm sorry that I have eyes!' 

'Maybe you should keep your eyes and your mouth to yourself!' 

Before Keith could say anything else, Shiro stepped in. He literally moved himself to stand between them, placing a hand on either of their shoulders. Allura shot him a harsh glare. 

'Do not start with this Shiro.' 

He heaved a sigh at her words. 'Allura, now is really not the time to make a scene. There's clearly been a misunderstanding here. Some lines have been crossed,' he gave a pointed look at Lance. 'And perhaps handled badly,' he turned to Allura. 'So rather than continuing to argue before we get kicked out the store, we should all go our own way.' 

Keith grasped hold of Lance's arm and lent in close, hissing through his teeth: ' _Apologise_.' 

Lance turned with wide eyes. 'You want me to what?!' 

'Please for the love of god, Lance. Apologise.' 

Blue eyes narrowed, but by some miracle he turned with a tight smile. 'I'm sorry if I offended you, I didn't mean to.' 

She faltered, eyes flickering between the younger males as if waiting for them to call an April fool's joke. 'Oh...uhm...' 

'Thank you for apologising, Lance. That's very mature of you.' 

She shot another withering glare Shiro's way. 'Yes, Lance. I accept your apology.' 

'Great. I'm glad we got that cleared up.' 

Lance tugged his arm out of Keith's grasp. 'Let's go, Hunk's probably nearly got dinner finished.' 

Keith nodded in agreement and turned to follow his friend towards his bike. He turned to look over his shoulder, seeing Allura gesturing wildly at Shiro as the two continued to talk outside the store. Shiro finally got hold of her hands and brought them close together, the gesture sudden and intimate. 

Keith felt a sickly swelling in his stomach. 

'No way are they a thing.' 

'What?' 

Lance rolled his eyes. 'I can see it. You think they are, right?' 

'Yeah, a little bit.' 

'Watch,' Lance gestured to the pair once they'd arrived at the bike. 'They seem really close, but he doesn't act with her the same way he acts with you.' 

'You're not still on that, are you?' 

'I'm sorry you were totally flirting the other night in the club and nothing you say will convince me otherwise.' 

'Maybe they've been together a really long time and are past that awkward flirting stage.' 

'Nuh-uh. If they were dating his reaction to me hitting on her would've been completely different. He would've been at least a little pissed off, but instead he took the middle ground. He didn't even side with her.' 

'Maybe he's just that kind of person.' 

'That kind of person?' 

Keith shrugged, watching the way Shiro held out an arm for Allura to link her hand through. 'You know, calm and stuff. Level headed.' 

'Even level-headed people take their partner's side. And he did not take her side.' 

'Whatever. Just get on the bike.' 

Lance shrugged and opened the seat where he knew the spare helmet was kept. 'Alright then. That's fine. Don't believe me.' 

Keith glared, but couldn't help but ponder the difference between Lance's words and what they looked like standing next to each other. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I just really love this scene with Keith and Shiro shopping and imagining them in the supermarket like 10/10.


	7. Chapter 7

After the incident with Plaxum, they decided that they needed a designated movie day. An agreed day that they would always use for their little meetings, because it was too much of an inconvenience for Lance to pop up out of the blue and drag Pidge into whatever chaos he was causing that day. 

He insisted that she'd miss it. She insisted he was deranged. 

Saturday rolled round, Hunk out with Shay and Keith gone to work, leaving Lance to busy himself with his own life. He'd thrown three movies into a carrier bag and skipped out the flat as he made his way to the Altea Dorms, sunshine promising a spectacular day ahead. He didn't receive Pidge's text straight away, mostly because his headphones were turned up too loud and he didn't feel the vibrations in his pocket. He should've checked before he left the house. But that required forward thinking. 

_Don't come round today._

He scowled down at his phone as he read the message. It seemed very final. He looked up at the door before deciding to reply. 

_Y?_ _U ok?_

Fifteen seconds. 

_Just don't. I'm not feeling well._

_I mean I'm already here_ _sooooo_

There was a loud groan of frustration from behind the door. He bit back a smile. 

_Why do you never check your phone?!_

_Just_ _lemme_ _in and_ _tlk_ _2 me_ _pls_

Twenty seconds. Then the door finally opened, revealing what seemed to be a blanket gremlin. Pidge's eyes and a tuft of hair peered out from inside the duvet covers, glaring with dark bags under her eyes. It was really very difficult not to burst out into fits of laughter. He didn't know how he managed. 

'Hey, so I'm looking for this friend of mine, I don't know if you can help me. She's crabby and grumpy and definitely not part blanket.' 

'I'm going to kick you in the shin.' 

'That's nice. Can I come in?' 

She shuffled away from the door and flopped down onto the bed, leaving the door open. He shut it behind him and took in the room: no Plaxum, which was pretty standard for a Saturday. There was quite a bit of mess, clothes from yesterday strewn about the floor. Maybe she really was ill. Her favourite hoody had been discarded haphazardly across Plaxum's bed. Definitely suspicious. 

'What's up with you?' He asked as he dropped the plastic bag on the desk and tapped the ankle that was dangling off the edge of the bed. 'It's movie day and you haven't even tidied.' 

'I don't feel like movie day.' 

'Then what do you feel like?' 

'I feel like  _dying_ , Lance. I'm also so not talking to you about this. Please leave.' 

He scrunched up his nose and thought about it. She wouldn't have let him in if that was honestly the case. 'Let me help. Do you want me to go get you something from the shop? Cold medicine or whatever?' 

She groaned into a pillow again. 'No. Gosh. This is embarrassing. I'm just-I'm in pain.' 

'What kind of pain?' 

'Have you always been this inquisitive?' 

'Ever since you've known me.' 

She turned around and cocooned as she glared over the top of the duvet. 'I just-I have like a pain in my stomach. Maybe I ate something bad.' 

'Painkillers then? Or something for nausea?' 

She ducked into the cocoon and looked away. 'No, it's fine, I-I'm just waiting on Plaxum getting back. She can get me what I need.' 

'I don't mind. You live practically next door to the university convenience store. You don't have to wait for Plaxum to get back. When even will that be?' 

She shrugged helplessly. 

He sucked in a breath and tried to channel through Hunk's soft patience as he pulled back the desk chair and straddled it, looking down at the girl on the bed. She really did look pathetic. 'Pidge, tell me what's up.' 

'It's just-!' She disappeared from view completely. 'I started this morning which was kind of surprising because I'm not due yet but then about an hour ago cramps just hit me  _so hard_ and I can't even bear the thought of going down to the shop because it hurts  _so much_ and I feel like I might vomit.' 

It barely took two ticks before it registered in his brain what was happening. It was a conversation he'd had with his oldest niece the summer before, and one that he'd had to help his youngest big sister through when they were teenagers. She was on her period. 

He grimaced as it registered. No wonder she didn't want to tell him. 'That settles that then.' 

'I told you that I shouldn't talk to you about it-?!' 

'I'll go to the shop. They do those special brand of painkillers, right? Do you need anything else?' 

She stared at him with mouth agape. 'What?' 

He shrugged. 'Pidge, I have five siblings and a handful of nieces. You think this is the first time I've had to do the emergency-store-run?' 

Her eyes narrowed. 'Matt has  _never_ run to the store for pads for me.' 

'I guess I'm just better than Matt. Who's Matt?' 

'My brother,' she finally sat up and looked around the room. 'I mean...if you're sure you don't mind?' 

'Positive. Give me the list. What do you need? I'm gonna need a detailed description else I will have no idea what I'm looking for.' 

She finally removed herself from the blanket. She was still in pyjamas, long bottoms that had an alien print on and a vest top. He bit back the urge to comment on them as she dashed around the room and presented him with an empty wrapper. 

'This is what I need.' 

It was the wrapper from a sanitary towel packet, showing the make of the product and the strength. He took it from her and nodded, before she presented a note with a list. 

'These are the painkillers I like. I don't like the chalky ones, or the ones that dissolve. I can't handle the weird texture on a normal day.' 

'You got it,' he took the items and shoved them into his jacket pocket with a wink. 'Anything else, Princess?' 

'Yeah, don't call me princess,' she muttered. 'Take my keys.' 

She pointed at the drawers in the corner of the room where her keys sat with another alien dangling from the keychain. 

'You really got a thing for aliens, huh?' 

'Get out.' 

He nodded his head and saluted before disappearing. The university convenience store was the obvious place to go, and he could only hope that the cashier on duty wouldn't give him too much flack. Which was unlikely, considering the cashier on duty was  _Keith._

* * *

He was not expecting Lance to arrive at the store that day. Keith saw him sneak in oh so subtly, blue eyes barely sparing him a glance. It was suspicious behaviour. He made sure to keep an eye on the Cuban boy in the mirrors that were dotted about the store. The body-care isle? Not weird. The shifty looks and quietness? So fucking weird. 

Lance finally arrived at the till, dropping the items on the counter with an uninterested look like he didn't care to be there. 'These please.' 

Keith stared down at the pink plastic packaging of the sanitary towels before raising a single eyebrow and levelling Lance with one of his usual disbelieving looks. 

‘I-uh-!’ Lance cleared his throat. His face had darkened about four shades. It was really quite entertaining. ‘I’m doing a favour for a friend.’ 

That explained it. A wicked smile crossed the dark-haired boy’s face. ‘When you say friend, I take it you mean your  _girlfriend_?’ 

‘ _Yes_ , okay, it’s Pidge, and she's not my girlfriend-look would you just run it through the till so I can leave?’ 

‘No, I’m enjoying this.’ 

‘You’re meant to be my best mate.’ 

‘Am I? This is news to me.’ 

‘One of my best mates. Though I’m seriously reconsidering that right now!’ 

Keith chuckled and picked up the offensive package before swiping it through the till, grabbing two of the chocolate bars up for promotion next to him and swiping them through also. 

‘Wait hang on I’m not buying you chocolate.’ 

‘No, you’re buying Pidge chocolate,’ Keith supplied. ‘You have sisters, I would’ve thought you knew how to do this. The reaction that chocolate causes in your brain is positive and will help her feel better. Also this is generally what I see people buy together.’ 

Lance grit his teeth. ‘Okay fine, that’s actually a really good idea. Thank you.’ 

‘You’re welcome. You’ve got it so bad.’ 

‘I don't know what you're talking about, Mullet.’ 

There was a rather loud giggle to the left of them that was vaguely familiar. The pair looked up from their bickering to see two PhD students by the meal deals, the woman giving a playful shove to the man. Keith felt his heart drop to his stomach as he recognised the pair and tried not to feel too bitter about it. 

When he turned back to Lance the Cuban was giving him a look that only promised meddling and embarrassment. ‘Weren’t you in a rush?’ 

‘I saw your face. You still think they’re dating, don’t you?’ 

‘What does it matter?’ Keith hissed. ‘He’s our lecturer. It’s none of my business.’ 

‘I’m gonna find out.’ 

‘Lance no-!’ 

‘Shush they’re coming over-oh shit man she’s leaving he’s got both of their meal deals.’ 

‘Lance I swear to fuck if you-!’ 

It was too late. The Cuban threw some bills at him before turning to their University Professor with a large smile and a warm greeting, receiving an equally warm one in return. Keith began to punch buttons on the till as he tried to pretend he wasn’t there for whatever Lance was about to do. 

‘Shiro! Hey man how’re you?’ 

‘Pretty good, thanks. You on Aunt May duty?’ 

Lance looked down at the items on the counter. ‘This? Yeah, I am. I’m just that good of a person I guess-so you got two meal deals, huh? Is that how much it takes to keep up them muscles?’ 

Keith was going to die. 

‘One’s for me and one’s for Allura. Seeing as I've been gifted one of the lecturer's offices we're working on our assignments there. Though I think I have some marking to do for your class.’ 

‘Pfft, I totally aced that essay. Keith helped me. Got nothing to fear!’ 

Keith glanced up to see Shiro looking at him. So much for pretending he wasn’t there. He busied himself packing a bag for Lance in hopes it would end the torture sooner. 

‘So, do you regularly buy Allura meals? I gotta say you could make a man jealous.’ 

‘We take turns. She’s a good friend.’ 

Lance perked up at that and elbowed him in the side. ‘Oho? Just friends? Does that mean I might have a chance with the beautiful Princess?’ 

‘Yes, Lance, just friends,’ despite the tiredness of his voice, Shiro had a playful smile on his face that was doing funny things to Keith’s insides. ‘You’ll have no competition from me. Though I'm fairly certain her anger from last time you spoke will be all the competition you'll need.’ 

Lance blew a raspberry. ‘Love isn't worth having if you don't have to fight for it!’ he turned and grabbed his bag from Keith with a wink. ‘Excuse me, I have a damsel in distress to save.’ 

Keith’s response was out his mouth before he had a chance to stop himself saying it in front of Shiro. ‘I hope you get hit by a car.’ 

‘Love you too, buddy. See you later, Shiro!’ 

The larger man gave a brief wave before Lance was practically dancing out the store with his goods. Keith was both glad that his friend was no longer about to embarrass him and also incredibly uncomfortable that his friend was no longer about to take the attention off him. 

He turned to face the music, seeing Shiro waiting expectantly. He could do this. How many times had he interacted with the man successfully? Many. It's just that usually Lance hadn't been around to embarrass him so spectacularly. 

‘You alright there, Keith?’ 

‘What?’ he snapped out his revere and fumbled to begin scanning the objects through the till. ‘Yes, I’m fine. How are you today?’ 

There was a wavering tilt to his voice that promised laughter. ‘I’m fine, thank you. Long day?’ 

‘Very.’ It was a lie. He’d started his shift two hours ago. ‘Would you like any of our promotional items today?’ 

Shiro was still giving him that warm smile. ‘Sure, what do you recommend?’ 

‘Uh…what kind of sweets do you like?’ 

‘I’m asking for your favourite, Keith.’ 

He strengthened his resolve. He was not going to become a blubbering mess. Not today. ‘Right yeah, probably the chocolate orange bites I guess? They’re pretty good. They don’t last very long but that makes it easier to eat them under the desk during Sendak’s lectures-not that I do that! I just-that’s what I heard. From Lance.’ 

When in doubt, blame Lance. It got him out of a fair amount of trouble.

Shiro seemed to find it entertaining at least. ‘Of course, you would never.’ 

‘Absolutely not.’ 

‘I’ve never seen you sneaking snacks out your bag during seminars.’ 

_Shit._ ‘You can’t see something that doesn’t happen.’ 

Shiro picked the bag up from the counter. ‘These please.’ 

‘No problem,’ Keith rang them through the till and packed the bag up as Shiro got his card out and presented it to the reader. 

‘Oh-don’t pack the chocolate.’ 

‘Um. Okay,’ he handed the bag and the chocolate packet over. ‘Here you go.’ 

Shiro took the bag. ‘The chocolate's for you. Hopefully it’ll make you perk up a bit for the rest of your shift.’ 

_Double shit._ Why was this man such a gem of a human being? ‘Oh. Right. Okay. That’s-!’ he swallowed a lump in his throat. ‘That’s really nice of you.’ 

‘No problem. See you later, Keith.’ 

‘Yeah, sure, later, enjoy your day or whatever.’ 

He could see the older man’s shoulders shake with laughter as he left the store. Keith clutched the chocolate orange bites in his fist as warmth surged through him and his heart soared from where it had been sat in his stomach all the way through his throat. He resisted the urge to get out his phone and send a very angry message to Lance. The boy had his own shit to deal with in that moment. Maybe Hunk would be free to come and give him CPR because he was fairly certain he’d stop breathing twenty seconds ago. 

* * *

Lance let himself back in to the dorm with the keys he’d stolen from the chest of drawers. There was a lump under the covers of Pidge’s bed, and her flatmate was thankfully still missing. He smirked as he moved over to the lump with as little noise as he possibly could, despite knowing that opening the door and the shuffling of the bag when he stepped in the room probably gave him away. 

The muffled voice confirmed it with: ‘I know you’re there, Lance.’ 

‘It wouldn’t have killed you to play along.’ 

‘I am so beyond the playing mood.’ 

‘You’re not embarrassed still, are you?’ 

Brown eyes appeared from the edge of the quilt. ‘I’ve passed embarrassed. I’ve accepted my fate. Now I’m just mortified.’ 

He rolled his eyes and dropped the bag down on the bed. She finally surfaced and pulled it close; opening to inspect the inside and make sure he got the right type. He felt a swell of pride as her eyes widened and her mouth hung slack, lips tugging upwards as she drew out the chocolate bar. 

‘You got me chocolate?’ 

‘I told you, I have done this before. Sweet things are like, a requirement, aren’t they?’

‘I’d berate you for that blatantly sexist assumption but I’m too happy to argue right now. How did you know I like Aero?’ 

‘I didn’t. There was a couple of bars on sale so I kinda just got both in hopes one of them would work.’ 

‘Were.’ 

‘What?’ 

She smirked as she patted the bar against her lips. ‘There were a couple of bars.’ 

‘You know I’m regretting this decision. I should keep these bars for myself. You don’t deserve them if you’re going to be a pedantic fuck.’ 

Her laughter made it all worth it. ‘Sorry, you just left yourself open. You make it so easy.’ 

‘Wow rude.’ 

‘I’m going to…go to the bathroom.’ 

There was that adorable embarrassed flush again. Lance flopped down on her roommate’s bed and waved his hand. ‘Go on, don’t let me stop you. I’ll just be here, resisting the urge to eat your chocolate.’ 

‘You’re sticking around?’ 

‘Unless you want me to leave?’ 

There was a moment pause before she shook her head. ‘No, you can stick around. It is movie day.’ 

He grinned wide. ‘Damn straight.’ 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Fun fact: this chapter was the first thing I wrote of this fanfic. This chapter birthed this whole mess.


	8. Chapter 8

‘Okay, okay, back up a second.’  

Pidge raised an eyebrow silently.  

‘You mean to tell me,’ he started, jabbing a finger into her shoulder. ‘You refuse to watch The Amazing Spiderman because Andrew Garfield isn’t a good enough Peter Parker, and yet instead of watching the original Ghost Busters you watched the  _remake_?’  

‘Yes, that’s what I’m telling you. Well done.’  

‘What the fuck Pidge.’  

The two students stood in the library trying to decide on the movie they would watch that evening. It had been just over a month since they first started watching films together, meeting up every week in order to power through a few. How this small fact had passed by Lance to this point was  _unacceptable_ , but mistakes happen. He would rectify the issue.  

She rolled her eyes. ‘Matt dragged me; it wasn’t like I had much of a choice. If it was up to me I wouldn’t have bothered.’  

‘I’ve never been so disappointed. I don’t know if we can be friends anymore.’  

‘Does this mean you’re finally going to leave me alone?’  

‘Of course not don’t be ridiculous.’  

She sighed. ‘Of course.’  

‘We’re gonna have to watch them. I own it on DVD. When do your lectures finish today?’  

‘Uh, about five o’clock?’  

He puffed out his chest. ‘Excellent. Six o’clock, my house. Bring snacks. We’re gonna fix this.’  

‘I don’t even know where your house is.’  

‘I’ll text you my address.’  

‘I’m not getting out of this, am I?’  

He grinned widely. ‘Nope! Remember: snacks. I’ll get Hunk to make extra dinner or something; he’s a pretty good cook.’  

‘Hunk’ll be there?’  

‘Yeah I think so? He does live with me, remember?’  

She smirked over the top of her glasses. ‘Maybe it won’t be so bad then.’  

‘Hey! There is nothing wrong with my company!’  

‘It’s just improved when your best friend is there. Didn’t you have another flatmate too?’  

‘What, Keith? Pfft,’ he waved it off. ‘He’ll be in his room watching some amateur documentary or something.’  

‘Sounds more interesting. Maybe I’ll hang out with him instead.’  

‘Okay just because I flirt with your roommate doesn’t mean you’re allowed to do the same.’  

‘That sounds hypocritical.’  

‘Besides he’s very gay. There’d be no point.’  

‘I’m fairly certain that Plax is a lesbian.’  

He narrowed his eyes. ‘Really?’  

‘Yeah.’  

‘How do you  _know_?’  

She scowled.  

‘Alright fine, I’ll drop it. But I need proof of this.’  

‘Whatever you say, Lance.’ She glanced down at her phone, humming as she checked the time. ‘Speaking of lectures: I best go if I wanna be on time.’  

‘Alright. You better not stand me up though!’  

‘Do I ever?’  

A flutter rose from his stomach to his chest along with a wide grin. ‘Nope!’  

She rolled her eyes in a very patronising fashion, but the effect was kind of diminished by the lopsided smile on her face. With a nod and a short goodbye she disappeared from the library, leaving him on his own.  

With a loss of what to do he headed towards his own classes, and ended up half an hour early. With a quick text to Hunk he secured extra dinner and a very excitable man who was looking forward to his robotics buddy joining them for movies and food.  

* * *

The text came through at about half five, lighting up his phone. He was sprawled across the couch in their living room, the smell of food being cooked drifting through from the kitchen. It was pasta night, which always left the flat smelling absolutely divine. Apparently seeing as they had a guest Hunk wanted to make his best.  

_What snacks do you want?_  

He smirked as he formulated the reply:  _Ur like 12 right? Get pick-n-mix._  

_I’m 18, and what does that have to do with anything?_  

_Its not weird if u get it. It is if I do._  

_You have a problem. I’m not getting pick-n-mix._  

_Y????_  

_Spite._  

He scowled.  _Pls_ _? Pretty_ _pls_ _?? Use ur young looks to ur advantage._  

_I do not look like a 12 year old!_  

_Sur, keep_ _tellin_ _urself_ _that._  

There was a snort from across the room. Lance looked up to see Keith lounging on his arm chair with Hunk behind him, both of them staring at him with matching evil smiles. It looked normal on Keith’s face, but a little weird on his Hunky bear.  

‘What? What are you looking at me like that for?’  

‘I asked what time Pidge was coming over,’ Hunk explained.  

‘Like, six.’  

Keith snorted.  

‘What?!’  

‘You. Ignoring Hunk. Cause you’re too busy texting your girlfriend.’  

Lance threw his hands into the air. ‘She is  _not_ my girlfriend.’  

Hunk chuckled. ‘Dude, we’ve been calling her your girlfriend for weeks yet you never seemed to have a problem with it.’  

‘Maybe your constant asshole-r-y just got grating.’  

‘Sure, whatever you say. I’m going to check on dinner.’  

Keith’s smirk continued. Lance wanted to punch him.  

‘Don’t you have something better to do? Why are you even still here?’  

‘I’m watching Ghost Busters with you guys.’  

‘Oh no you’re fucking not. Who invited you?’  

‘I live here. You literally cannot stop me.’  

‘It’s friendship night. You’re not allowed.’  

‘I want to meet the infamous  _Pidge_.’  

‘No. I refuse.’  

‘Are you scared I’m going to embarrass you in front of your gir-?’  

‘She is  _not_ my girlfriend!’ He snapped as he threw a pillow across the room. Of course Keith caught it. The little shit. ‘I’m going to tell everyone you have a daddy kink.’  

‘I mean you’re wrong but whatever.’  

‘You two! Stop fighting! I don’t want to have to clean up broken glass. Again.’  

The pair settled at Hunk’s request. They would always settle for Hunk. Another text lit up his screen and he allowed himself to sink back into the depths of his phone, flipping through apps and approving the photo of snacks that Pidge had acquired. Keith flicked through their Netflix account mindlessly, flagging things he wanted to watch and occasionally making snarky comments that Lance would respond to in kind.  

He practically threw himself off the couch when the doorbell rang through.  

He opened the door with a flourish to see the sandy haired girl standing on the other side, equipped with a backpack that she held in front of one of her dumb graphic t-shirts. Before he or Pidge had even gotten the chance to utter a greeting, Keith was by his side, creeping round the door frame with narrowed eyes and furrowed brows. Like the  _creep_ he truly  _was_.  

‘Pidge,’ he started with a clear voice. ‘You are Pidge, right?’  

She blinked a couple of times before she responded with: ‘Yes. I am Pidge. You must be Keith.’  

‘I am,’ Keith confirmed. ‘So what are your thoughts on the Moon Landing being fake?’  

‘Oh my  _fuck_ Keith go to your room.’  

The black haired man pinned Lance with a glare. ‘You expect me to allow someone into my home without proper introduction? Fat chance.’  

‘Why are you like this?!’ Lance demanding. ‘Is this because of the Rolo thing? Because I swear to fuck-?!’  

‘Yes, it is because of the Rolo thing, now,’ he turned his attention back to Pidge. ‘Pidge? Moon Landing? Fake or real?’  

She glanced between the pair before she cleared her throat. ‘Fake. Definitely. Give me the technology they had and I’d be able to do a better job at creating a realistic depiction of what it would’ve been like-though back then they didn’t have the knowledge that we have now so I suppose I’d be at a significant advantage.’  

‘I approve. She can come in. Did you know Lance doesn’t believe me when I tell him why it’s fake?’  

She smirked. ‘Lance is a textbook example of the kind of person they were attempting to fool when they created that footage. You know. Average.’  

Keith’s lips spread upwards and he quickly darted back into the flat with promises of helping Hunk in the kitchen.  

Lance was furious. ‘I cannot believe this. I retract my invitation. You’re not worthy of watching Ghost Busters with me.’  

‘If it makes it up to you,’ she reached into the plastic bag she was carrying and pulled out a pink and white striped bag. ‘I got you pick ‘n’ mix.’  

‘Holy shit you’re a beautiful human being where have you been all my life?’  

She rolled her eyes, but didn’t hide the smile on her face. ‘I know. You’re welcome.’  

He held the door open with his foot for her as he inspected the contents of the bag. She had done well. There was a nice variety. He gestured towards the kitchen archway where Hunk and Keith were sorting out the food, and then headed towards the TV in their living room as she trailed behind him.  

‘You’re welcome to any seat. Except that one,’ he pointed at the tall armchair. ‘That’s Keith’s seat.’  

‘Keith has his own seat?’  

‘It keeps him off the couch with me so I’m not complaining.’  

She snorted at that as she flopped onto the edge of the couch. ‘I thought Keith was your friend?’  

‘Where did you get that from?’  

Hunk appeared from the kitchen with two bowls in his hands, Keith close behind with another two. A wide smile was plastered against the larger man’s face as he placed one down on the coffee table, Keith putting one down in front of Pidge. She gave a curt nod and a thank you as he settled into his chair.  

‘Pidge!’ Hunk greeted with a clap on her shoulder. ‘Welcome to our humble abode! I hear Lance has roped you in to a Ghost Busters night?’  

‘Is it that bad?’  

‘Bad? It’s a classic for a reason, man! It’s great! This is just the first time you guys are watching a movie round here with us.’  

Lance groaned loudly from his place crouched in front of the TV stand, sorting out the DVD. Keith let out a small noise of amusement.  

‘Oh! Do you want a drink by the way? We’ve got some cola, or like chocolate milk and stuff? Keith likes to make smoothies and shit so there’s loads of fruity drinks in our fridge.’  

‘Yeah, that’d be nice! Whatever I guess, I’m not really picky. Oh-but I am allergic to citrus, so there’s some fruits I can’t have.’  

‘Got it. I’ll bring the cola through, and four glasses. Keep it simple!’  

He trotted out the room and back into the kitchen. Pidge turned to the other two boys as he disappeared and lowered her voice to ask: ‘Is he always like this?’  

The pair nodded grimly.  

‘Yes.’  

‘All the time.’  

Hunk reappeared with a bottle ducked under his arm and four glasses stacked together, placing them down on the coffee table as he surveyed the room. ‘Right. Is that everything? I think that’s everything. I’m not forgetting anything am I? I feel like I’m-!’  

‘Hunk,’ Keith’s voice cut through his ramble like a knife. ‘Sit down.’  

‘But-!’  

‘If there’s anything else, I’ll get it. Just relax. The food’s great.’  

Hunk deflated into the couch next to Pidge with a fond smile. ‘Thanks man.’  

Keith turned his eyes back to the TV.  

Lance finally settled down on the floor next to the coffee table, picking up the bottle of cola as he began to dish it out. Pidge leant forward to collect her meal, delighting in the taste of Hunk’s cooking and confirming that Keith was right, it was absolutely fantastic. Lance shushed them all before he pressed play with a silent room.  

* * *

The film finished. Keith and Lance had gathered all the dirty dishes and returned them to the kitchen on the insistence that Hunk had done enough. There was a moment where Lance thought maybe he would be safe from any awkward embarrassing things that his flatmates so often did.  

He was wrong.  

‘So, Pidge.’  

Lance groaned and buried his face in his hands as Keith turned to the girl with a conspiratial tone in his voice.  

‘Ghosts?’  

‘Keith, I am a woman of  _Science_. I can’t believe you’d insult me this way.’  

‘Why did I think introducing Pidge and Keith to one another was a good idea?’ Lance lamented as he turned to Hunk. ‘Oh wait, that’s right, I didn’t! Keith just refused to leave for the night!’  

‘My flat.’  

‘I hate you.’  

Pidge flashed a wicked grin at the man on the floor. ‘You’re just upset because I like him more than you.’  

‘I am offended. I am so offended right now.’  

Keith scoffed. ‘Sure you are. If you’ll excuse me, I have a documentary in my room waiting for me.’  

‘Yeah, that’s right! Leave! Go learn about Bigfoot or whatever!’  

Pidge’s head perked up at that. ‘Bigfoot?’  

‘It’s not a Bigfoot documentary. But I do have those.’  

Lance blew a raspberry. ‘He’s exaggerating. He’s going to sit and watch YouTube videos for the rest of the night.’  

‘Hey!’  

Pidge’s grin grew wider. ‘Maybe we should all sit and watch them together. Bonding time. What better way to make friends with someone than discuss theories together?’  

‘On that note I’m gonna go see what Shay is doing.’  

Lance’s eyes snapped to Hunk. ‘Buddy. Bro. You’re not seriously abandoning me right now, are you?’  

He shrugged. ‘Sorry, you know how Keith’s videos get in my head and freak me out sometimes.’  

‘This is bullshit. This is  _such_ bullshit.’  

‘You’ll be fine!’ Hunk assured with a thumbs up. ‘At least you get the couch now?’  

A small solace in a bigger pit of pain.  

As soon as Hunk left the apartment Pidge and Keith had hooked his laptop up to the TV, scrolling through his YouTube account and whispering amongst themselves which playlist they were going to put on. Lance curled up on the couch with his bag of pick ‘n’ mix, glaring at the shaggy haired individuals sat on the floor before they finally let out a triumphant noise at finding the right one and dashed back to their places.  

The first video promised Bigfoot. Lance bit down the smile and rolled his eyes. Pidge giggled from her spot as Keith raised a brow with a proud smile on his face.  

‘Well played, you nerds.’  

This seemed to be good enough for them. Lance stretched his legs across the couch and dumped them in Pidge’s lap despite her complaints, and she dragged the bag to sit on his knees so that they could both reach the sweets before Keith tossed a coin at them in an attempt to make them quieten down.  

Lance had to admit, two hours in with about ten videos under their belts, the bickering and exclamations and occasional tantrums of throwing a sweet at the screen was actually kind of fun. The trio settled into a comfortable banter and perhaps he’d been too quick to judge the dumb documentaries that Keith spent his time watching.  

Not that it would stop him from poking fun at the dark haired man.  

Hunk eventually got home to them still sat round watching dumb videos, the auto play function that YouTube had drifting them far away from what they had originally started watching and the suggested videos taking them deep with no return. Hunk had declared time and turned off Keith’s computer, insisting that they all went to bed and that Pidge could stay on their couch. She assured him she was capable of driving home.  

‘Alright,’ Keith let out a heavy breath with a small sigh. ‘I can see why you like her.’  

‘She is great,’ Hunk agreed. ‘I was so happy that you two started getting on so well. Like, two of my best friends from two different parts of life were brought together. It’s fate. It was meant to be.’  

Lance grinned wide. ‘So does this mean we’re all agreeing that it was a  _good_ thing that I-?!’  

‘Absolutely not.’  

‘Please do not go round breaking into people’s cars.’  

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I always imagined Pidge to be into conspiracy theories, and Keith to be the kinda guy who goes along for the ride.


	9. Chapter 9

Despite his reluctance to go out with some of his course mates to clubs and bars, Keith wasn’t entirely unfamiliar with drinking in dark places with strangers. Usually he didn’t go out in large crowds like Lance did, opting to chose his company more selectively or go on his own. That way he got to pick exactly where he went, how long he stayed for, and how many people he had to speak to. 

He used to go out with Rolo, who would be happy to join him on the scene in the local gay bars. But after shit hit the fan with Lance and Nyma, they shared one last drink and agreed to never speak again. Mostly because as soon as Rolo tried to bring it up Keith threatened to punch him. 

It wasn’t his fault that Rolo wanted to get “sympathy” and “understanding” for the bitch. 

That night drew him out on his own, which was probably thankful in the long run. No one else was there to see the gradual progression of his utter defeat. 

It was innocent. He would stand by that. He just wanted to have a couple of drinks and watch the dance floor and then leave. He caught sight of one or two familiar faces who gave a wave and a smile. It was difficult not to get to know people when you went places with friends like Hunk and Lance. They were a little magnetic. Especially when Lance wasn’t trying to flirt with everything that moved in a five mile radius. 

A classic trick he’d actually seen Lance use. He had his drink settled on one of the long narrow tables that lined the dance floor when someone came over and knocked it with their own, tipping it over and spilling it across the table. Keith caught it just in time to save about half of what had been left. Good enough. 

At first he chalked it up to an honest mistake. Shit happened. There was a reason the cups were plastic. But then the guy started talking. 

‘Dude, man, I’m so sorry!’ 

‘It’s fine,’ Keith replied, looking up to find brown eyes boring down into his skull. ‘Mistakes happen. Don’t worry about it.’ 

‘Hey, how about I get you another drink, to make up for it. It’s the least I could do.’ 

He smiled tight and polite, reminding himself not to be an asshole. ‘Nah, we’re good. I prefer to get my own drinks.’ 

‘You won’t even let me get it to ease my guilty conscience?’ 

‘Don’t worry. Apology accepted. I don’t need anything more.’ 

The pitiful look turned into a lopsided smile. ‘Alright, how about if I got you a drink as an excuse to keep talking to you? Would you accept it then?’ 

The guy was easy on the eyes. He guessed. If you were into dumb vests and snapbacks. Which Keith was not into. There were several things that instantly reminded him of the first time he’d met Lance, but with the added extra of flirting. Maybe he would’ve been nicer if it wasn’t for that fact. After all, he couldn’t stand Lance when they first met. 

‘I’m fine. Thanks.’ 

The smile dropped. Dark brows pulled together. ‘Calm down, fella. I’m just trying to do a nice thing.’ 

‘Do a nice thing and go walk out the front door then.’ 

The guy squared up, straightening his back and jabbing a finger into Keith’s chest. He was taller, sure. But not exactly well built. He had a pretty face and not much else. Keith could take him. 

Keith could  _definitely_ take him. He downed what was left of his drink. 

‘No wonder you’re standing here alone if this is how you treat people.’ 

‘Idiots piss me off.’ 

‘You know what, you little-?!’ 

‘Is there a problem here?’ 

Keith looked away from the man to see a tall handsome man with narrowed eyes. The familiar feeling of blush creeping on to his face followed by the urge to run a mile caught him off guard, eyes widening at the sight of his lecturer in the bar. 

‘Shiro!’ he panicked. ‘Wha-?!’ 

The man stepped closer, wrapping an arm round Keith’s shoulders and squeezing with one arm. His gaze never left the sleeze-bag he was arguing with previously, who was beginning to look less confident as the conversation continued. He may have been taller than Keith, but Shiro was considerably bigger than them both. 

‘Is this guy bothering you, babe?’ 

Keith short circuited. Shiro called him babe. 

‘Maybe you need to keep your boy on a leash, man,’ the bloke spat. ‘Stop him from running his mouth before he gets a black eye.’ 

‘Maybe I need to teach you a lesson about keeping your hands to yourself. If he was bothering you that much all you had to do was walk away.’ 

The guy opened his mouth to start talking with a face full of thunder, but before he managed to get a word out Shiro had turned his back and was addressing Keith directly. 

‘Shall we go get another drink? My treat. As an apology for not having your back sooner.’ 

‘I could’ve taken him,’ Keith muttered. 

Shiro laughed. ‘I know you could’ve, but I’d rather you didn’t start fights in clubs. Especially not ones I like.’ 

With that the Professor took his hand and began to lead him to the bar, ignoring the sounds of protest from the guy they left behind. Shiro guided him to a table against the window before disappearing with a promise to return with drinks. Five minutes later he did just that. 

Five minutes wasn’t enough time for Keith to fully wrap his head around the situation however. By the time Shiro returned he was still a bit red in the face, his only saving grace that the lighting was dim and off colour anyway. There was something different about one of his friends catching him about to start a fight and the hot lecturer doing it. 

‘Here,’ Shiro held out a glass. ‘I didn’t know what you liked, so I just got you my usual. I hope that’s alright.’ 

Keith took it. Rum and coke. Nice and simple. ‘Thanks.’ 

‘Are you alright?’ 

‘Yeah, I’m fine. I-uh-it happens occasionally. Rare occasions, but you know,’ he shrugged. ‘I throw a pretty solid punch.’ 

‘Please don’t punch people in clubs.’ 

‘Usually I wait till we’re outside to throw the punch don’t worry.’ 

Shiro raised a brow with a lopsided smile on his face. ‘I can’t tell if you’re joking or not and it’s very concerning.’ 

Keith bit back a smirk. ‘What are you doing here?’ 

‘Do I really seem that old to you?’ 

‘No, I mean,’ he held back any embarrassment. ‘What are you doing at this club, specifically?’ 

Shiro’s eyes narrowed before wide eyed realisation set in. He smirked. ‘Well, this is a club that’s frequented by men who are attracted to other men, and as one of those men it’s a place I feel quite comfortable.’ 

_Holy shit_ this was a conversation that was really happening. ‘That’s-uh-good to know.’ 

‘Is it?’ 

Stay cool, Keith. Channel your inner Lance. Or maybe that would make it worse. ‘Yep. Good to know.’ 

‘What are you doing here?’ 

‘Same reason as you, I guess. You know. The gay thing.’ 

_Wow_ someone shoot him. 

Shiro simply laughed in a way that made him feel like maybe he’d made a joke and didn’t realise it again. ‘Good to know.’ 

No matter how much he drank it didn’t seem to fix the dryness of his throat. His mind flashed back to Lance’s talk on whether or not Shiro and the woman named Allura were together. It was a lot more convincing to see that they weren’t now. 

‘Woah there, don’t drink too fast. We don’t want you stumbling into more trouble.’ 

Keith put the glass back down half empty. ‘You’re just upset that one of your students could out-drink you.’ 

His face schooled into a very serious expression. 

‘Did I-did I say something wrong?’ 

‘You did,’ Shiro leant forward, closing the gap the table provided. Keith leant back. ‘Something very wrong.’ 

‘Wh-what?’ 

‘You just challenged me to a drinking competition.’ 

Keith’s heart stuttered as much as his words. ‘Did I?’ 

‘You did. And I take my drinking competitions very seriously.’ 

He felt the usual rush he did when he was offered a competition, feeling confidence surge. ‘Well I hope you’re seriously ready to lose then.’ 

Shiro moved round the table and clasped a hand on Keith’s shoulder before he leaned in close enough to speak straight into his ear without worrying about the music, voice low and mildly threatening. Keith wasn’t sure he was able to hear anything other than his lecturer’s voice in that moment. 

‘Careful not to trash talk too much, Kogane. You’ll be drinking your words in a minute.’ 

He was gone to the bar once again. Keith smacked his fist into his chest in hopes it would calm his racing heart and sooth his pulse. He got out his phone, flicking through the messages to busy himself and distracted his mind. He debated sending a message to one of his flatmates, but thought that perhaps on this occasion he should handle it on his own. 

When Shiro returned it was with two long trays that had six shots each. He placed one down in front of Keith, sitting with his own a moment later. A creeping feeling of dread settled in his bones. 

‘What is this?’ 

‘It’s Coran’s Shot Challenge. I remember when I first covered one of his classes last term and he sat me down and insisted that I wouldn’t be able to handle university students if I couldn’t handle this mix.’ 

‘Shouldn’t you be encouraging me to drink responsibly? Not mix my drinks or whatever?’ 

‘Hey, I’m not an official lecturer; I’m still a student like you sort of. Besides, it’s out of hours now. Anything goes.’ 

That sentence alone held far more meaning than what it probably should’ve. 

‘On the count of three, we’ll start. Whoever reaches the lime fastest wins.’ 

Keith settled his eyes on the lime. ‘The last one is tequila?’ 

‘Sure is.’ 

He wasn’t drunk enough to enjoy tequila. This was going to actually kill him. 

‘Are you ready?’ 

He nodded. 

‘Three…two…one…go!’ 

Keith dived in head first as he did with most things. 

* * *

Shiro reached the lime first. He reached the lime first  _and_ stole Keith’s so it left him with an unpleasant taste in his mouth, accusing Shiro of being a filthy cheat. The larger man laughed and said that meant he’d just have to make it up to him by buying him a more flavourful drink before he disappeared to the bar for the third time in quick succession, even though they had half finished drinks from before the shots. 

It was a similar excuse to the one the asshole from earlier had used, yet Keith found he didn’t mind with Shiro. It left him on a high with a grin on his face when Shiro returned. 

From there things began to blur. He remembered getting into a rant about the legitimacy of ghost hunting and the equipment that they use to record their findings, a rant that not many people can actually sit through without laughing or leaving, yet Shiro asked questions. Actual, fair questions that made him stop and think. He could see a twinkle in the man’s eyes every time he made Keith stumble, and the younger man was always quick to try recover and answer in turn. 

Shiro instigated the dancing. He was fairly certain that was how it happened. He remembered the man holding his wrist and carting him round before they were in the middle of the dance floor, a mess of flailing limbs and laughter. He smiled so much it must’ve hurt. Alcohol had a tendency to numb pain though. 

He remembered stopping in the middle of the thrumming noise and moving bodies, staring up into grey eyes that looked like inky black pits in the dim club lighting, the scar that was etched across Shiro’s face crinkling upwards as his lips spread out into a warm smile. Keith raised a hand to trace his fingers along the scar, marvelling at the marred skin, settling on his hot cheek and strong jaw. 

There was a kiss. There were multiple kisses. He would vehemently deny going up onto his toes. 

They stumbled out holding hands, bumping shoulders as Shiro guided them to a taxi and spoke to the driver. Keith remembered laughing so hard he snorted at some stupid joke, before they were kissing again. 

They went up in an elevator and Shiro unlocked the door, Keith insisting he hurried as he tried to keep his head low. The pair snorted with laughter again as they fell into the apartment and Shiro covered his mouth while pressing a finger to his lips, tiptoeing through the apartment and only knocking into one table on the way. 

There was a tangle of limbs. Gasping and writhing. Him looking up at Shiro from his knees as he leisurely worked on the man's belt. 

When he woke up the next morning he was filled with a sense of dread. 

It was possible he was still a little bit drunk. He was aware and reacting normally, but there was a light-headedness that suggested  _maybe_ still a little bit drunk. The smell of a night out and sweat hit him instantly and he felt as wrapped up in that as he did in the arm slung loosely around his waist. 

The arm that was warm, that lead to the naked chest grazing his back, trying to lure him back to sleep. He was having none of it. He wasn’t so drunk the night before that he totally blacked out and had no recollection. He remembered the fuzzy escapade far too well. 

He moved quickly and discretely. He extracted himself from the bed with limited movement before locating each item of clothing and checking his phone. It was still the early hours of the morning, about half seven. He had plenty of time to get home without anyone in the apartment being aware of his existence. 

He grabbed a piece of paper and a pencil, biting down on his lip as he thought of what he should say. Should he even say anything? Should he just hope beyond all hope that Shiro hadbeen blackout drunk and wouldn’t remember anything when he woke up? 

The note was another point towards the “still being drunk” theory. It was a dumb idea. It was an even  _dumber_ idea to sign it with his name. 

He checked for his phone, his keys, and his wallet, before he turned to actually look at the man he’d spent the night next to for the first time that morning. He wasn’t prepared. At all. 

Shiro looked peaceful and very unconscious, which at least made Keith feel a little less like he was walking on eggshells to get out the room. The thin duvet was pooled around his stomach, one muscled arm that had been wrapped round Keith flat on the bed while the prosthetic metallic arm was tucked under a pillow underneath his head, face mushed into the soft pillows. It should’ve looked silly. Instead it looked oddly adorable. 

Keith moved forward to pick up the blanket and secure it round the man properly. He tried to resist the urge to peek at his meal from the night before. He failed. 

He was thankful a gag reflex wasn’t something he needed to worry about when he’d had a bit of alcohol because  _damn_. Score. 

The calmness of observing Shiro disappeared as he pressed an ear to the door and listened for movement in the flat. Nothing. The coast was clear. 

His heart thudded painfully against his ribcage as he opened the door and slipped out the room. He crossed the hallway towards what looked like a front door in record time, disappearing into the morning sun without a trace. 

Apart from a note. 

‘For fucks sake.’ 

He managed to find a taxi rank, checking the amount in his wallet before he listed where his flat was. He honestly wasn’t one hundred percent sure how to get back from Shiro’s flat. Thankfully the driver was quiet and took the look on Keith’s face as a sign not to talk. 

He paid and darted out the taxi before he headed for his building and began to climb the stairs. The closer he got to his flat the more desperate he felt. He broke into a run. 

 Keith shot into the flat, breathing heavily as he recovered from the rush of running up three flights of stairs. He swore silently and ran a hand through his hair, though it got caught in the tangles from the night before. If only he’d just stopped in order to brush it instead of racing out the place like some kind of criminal. 

‘Hey there pal, you look like you’ve had a bracing morning jog.’ 

_Fuck_. He snapped his eyes to the couch, seeing his lanky flatmate sat with a bowl of cereal and the TV playing something softly in the background.  _Double fuck_. It was Lance. Lance who would never let him live this down. Lance who was so more adept at one night stands than he was. Lance who… 

A lightbulb went off in his head. Lance  _was_ more adept at one night stands. He was just generally better at interacting and dealing with people in an intimate manner. If there was anyone he knew who’d be able to help him and also not get him in trouble, it would be Lance. What was it he’d said? Single buddies? It was the only option. 

‘Lance I’m in trouble.’ 

The brunette looked up from his cereal bowl, spoon half way to his mouth. ‘Eh?’ 

‘I need your help I’ve made a terrible mistake.’ 

Keith watched the blue eyes roam across his body, narrowing as Lance’s brain began working. It left him feeling bare. He didn’t like this at all. ‘Hang on a second, aren’t those the clothes you were wearing last night when you went out?’ 

Keith hesitated. ‘Yes. They are.’ 

‘You  _dog_.’ 

‘This is serious.’ 

‘Was he cute? Or hot, or whatever you go for.’ 

Keith’s face coloured considerably. ‘Yes but that’s not the problem.’ 

‘Did you get his number?’ 

‘What? No!’ 

‘Wow, that bad? Maybe I see the problem now.’ 

‘It was Shiro!’ 

The room fell still. A cheerio fell off his spoon and back into the bowl with a  _plop_. 

Lance looked like he was going to scream. Scratch that, he did scream. ‘Oh my goodness are you shitting me?!’ 

‘Calm down! This is a serious matter!’ 

‘You got  _laid_ by your  _dream guy_  and you expect me to be calm?!’ 

There was that fiery blush Keith was so well known for. ‘I didn’t-we didn’t have sex alright?! I just…’ 

‘You just?’ Lance gestured for him to continue. ‘You just what, spent the night at his place innocently? Had a cute little sleepover and painted each other’s nails?’ 

Keith foamed. Why did he think talking to Lance about this was a good idea? 

‘Give me the details. Spare none. Tell me everything.’ 

‘I mean it’s kind of all a hazy blur honestly. He stopped me getting in a fight with this guy, then we did shots-!’ 

‘ _Without me_.’ 

‘-And then…’ his ears started to warm up. ‘You know we talked and it was nice and we danced a little bit. Then I went back to his place.’ 

Lance stared at him. Waiting. 

He shrugged. 

‘Yes but  _then what_? What damage control are we talking here? Did you share a bed all cute like and wake up cuddling or did you suck his dick and now you feel awkward about it?’ 

‘The second one.’ 

Lance whistled low and set his bowl on the coffee table. ‘Alrighty then. Come and sit with me, dear Keith. Let’s try make heads or tails of this.’ 

Keith slumped down on the couch, leaning forward and resting his elbows on his knees as he tried not to think too hard about how peaceful Shiro had looked when he left that morning. 

‘What did you say to him this morning when you woke up?’ 

Keith shrugged. ‘He wasn’t awake. I left a note.’ 

‘Saying…?’ 

‘Thanks for the drinks, see you at class.’ 

Lance groaned and slapped his palm against his face. ‘Okay. That’s not the worst note you could’ve left. At least you said thank you.’ 

Keith dared a glance at his friend. ‘I fucked up.’ 

‘Technically, Professor Shirogane fucked up. You’re the helpless party. But it’s not like you’re about to go tell his supervisor and get him in trouble, is it?’ 

‘No. Of course not.’ 

‘And can you honestly say you regret it? Was it  _bad_?’ 

He bit back a smile. ‘No. It was good. What I remember was good.’ 

Lance grinned wide and clicked his fingers. ‘See?! You’re fine! These things happen. You’re only human. One whole thirsty, gay, human. Getting a little of that pent up frustration’ll probably help you. And me. You’ve been crabby lately.’ 

Keith rolled his eyes. ‘Wow, thanks.’ 

‘Not a single swear. Not even a glare. I can see it working its magic already.’ 

He stood up and did his best to ignore the brunette’s comments. ‘I’m going to get changed. And have a shower. I can still smell alcohol.’ 

‘You do reek.’ 

He hesitated at his door. ‘Hey, Lance?’ 

The brunette spun his head round from the couch to look back at Keith. ‘Yeah?’ 

‘Thanks.’ 

He still felt awkward about it. Sort of uncomfortable knowing that he’d have to face their Professor at the beginning of the week and Lance would be next to him and  _know_. But that was the most that he felt. The uncontrollable panic was gone, and he was pleased that he’d left a note. For a while he thought perhaps it was the wrong thing to do. 

Who knew that Lance would be the person to make him feel better, of all people. Not that he doubted the brunette for a second. They were friends. Good friends. He had faith in the other man. But it wasn’t something they did often. 

Lance winked and shot him a finger gun. ‘Anytime, bud. Whatever you need.’

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm like happy with this chapter apart from like 
> 
> ONE LINE 
> 
> And if I don't upload it now I never will because I'll fiddle with it for days.


	10. Chapter 10

Lance had been completely wrong. He had been completely wrong. Writing a note was the worst decision of Keith's short life. He should’ve never said anything. Who was he kidding, that wouldn’t change anything. Their Professor was just so  _Shiro_ that he was bound to say something. It was like the law. Damn nice guys and their need to always have closure and resolutions. They could never just let a bad mistake be a good memory.  

‘You’re panicking.’  

‘No I’m not.’  

‘I can see you panicking. If you scowl too hard you’ll give yourself wrinkles.’  

‘Lance, everyone will get wrinkles.’  

‘Yeah,  _eventually_ , but not now.’  

Keith groaned and smoothed out his brow with his fingers. ‘Fine. Sorry. I’ll stop.’  

They were standing outside the lecture hall, the only two there fifteen minutes early. In his panic he’d drove in too early, and Lance had hopped on the bike for a ride. And because Hunk apparently didn’t think Keith was in the right mind to drive on his own.  

He was probably right. But still.  

‘It’ll only be awkward if you make it awkward.’  

He gestured wildly at the air. ‘Lance, when do I  _not_ make things like this awkward?!’  

‘Yeah okay good point. So let’s assume it’s gonna be awkward-!’  

‘Thanks.’  

‘-It’ll only be for a little while. You’ll bounce back!’  

That was true. Probably. All he had to do was give a casual smile or a friendly wave from across the room and then leave immediately. They didn’t have to speak today. It wasn’t like they usually spoke after class. They went on with the rest of their days.  

‘Okay don’t look now but I need you to put on your best normal-Keith-face right now.’  

‘What?’  

Lance wasn’t looking at him. He was looking behind him, with a wide grin and a wave. He spoke through the grin. ‘Prof’s here.’  

Keith wasn’t as good an actor. He spun round to look down the corridor where, in all his glory, Professor strode down with a tight smile and a wave back. There was a messenger bag slung over one shoulder and while usually Keith’s heart did a weird aching motion when he saw the scar and startling white streak of hair, this time his stomach dropped and he felt physically ill.  

‘Fuck.’  

‘Normal-Keith-face, get on it-hey! Professor Shirogane! What’s up?’  

Keith schooled his face into what he hoped was “casual indifference”. Lance didn’t elbow him so he must’ve been doing an alright job.  

‘You two are here pretty early, aren’t you?’  

Lance shrugged with a melodramatic sigh. ‘What can we say? We just love to learn. Model students. That’s us!’  

‘I’m sure,’ at least he sounded amused. ‘I’m actually glad to have caught you before class starts. I was wondering if you could stop by my office after class-if you’re not busy, that is. Only if you’re available.’  

Shiro was looking directly at him. Grey eyes flickered to the side as he shifted his weight. He looked just as uncomfortable as Keith felt. ‘Sure. Yeah. I can do that.’  

‘Great. There’s a couple of texts I found from digging through some old stuff that I think could be helpful on this module.’ 

An easy excuse, if a bit belated. If Lance hadn’t already known, Keith would’ve been grateful for the reasoning to give to him. Keith nodded in acknowledgement. He didn’t dare open his mouth again.  

It was satisfactory enough to make Shiro smile, his shoulders falling back just a faction. ‘Great. Excellent. My office is on the second floor, it’s got my name on it, uh…’ was that a pink hue in his cheeks? ‘Allura made the sign. I didn’t.’  

Lance snorted, snapping the men out of their staring contest. He covered his mouth. ‘Sorry-I’m just imagining what she’s done that you have to be embarrassed about.’  

Shiro’s lips quirked into a smirk. ‘Perhaps you’ll see later. Don’t you have class straight after this one?’  

‘How do you have my schedule memorised?’  

He shrugged. ‘You pick up on things when you see the same faces every week I guess. Anyway,’ he glanced over as more students started lining up. ‘See you in there.’  

He walked towards the lecture hall and stepped inside, propping the door open to signal that the students could enter.   

‘See, that wasn’t too hard!’  

‘I feel like I’ve been on a ten mile jog.’  

Lance shot him an unimpressed look. ‘You actually did better than I thought you would. Though not perfect. Your acting skills need some work.’  

‘Whatever. Let’s just get this over with.  

Class wasn’t quite as painful as he’d imagined it to be. Apparently the knowledge that Keith would be going to his office later was enough to put their Professor’s mind at ease, as he breezed through the lecture with his usual calm demeanour. Keith was somewhat envious. It had only left a bubbling nervousness in the pit of his stomach that he was convinced would deposit itself onto the desk at any moment.  

He shouldn’t have left that stupid note. He shouldn’t have left  _any trace_.  

Lance prattled on about generic things he didn’t really listen to as they walked up to the office on the next floor. He never asked if Keith needed or even wanted escorting up, but he wasn’t about to complain. Because he did want it. His heart hurt from beating too fast and his fingers were twitching to punch the closest wall.  

They finally arrived outside, walking slow enough that class had finished ten minutes earlier. Shiro had definitely got to the office before them. That was the plan. A colourful, flowery nametag had been pushed into the place where their Professor’s usually had their names listed, reading Takashi Shirogane, and Keith realised why Shiro had wanted to emphasise who wrote it. It was feminine, that’s for sure.  

‘You’ve got this.’  

Keith groaned at Lance’s words, hovering in front of the office doors. He knew it had to happen. Shiro seemed to kind, too honest, too  _morally incorruptible_  to just never mention it. He was a real adult. Meanwhile, Keith had secretly been hoping they would simply ignore it and never speak of it again and take it with him to his grave. But he was also just a fake adult. Faking his way through adulthood.  

‘I really don’t.’  

‘It’s not that bad!’ Lance insisted. ‘I’ll wait outside for you if you want?’  

‘Don’t you have class?’  

He shrugged. ‘Bros before learning.’  

‘That’s not how the phrase goes.’  

Lance levelled him with a look. ‘Stop procrastinating.’  

Keith sucked in a breath. He was right. Keith was trying to delay the inevitable.  

‘You alright?’ 

No. He really wasn’t.  

‘No one’s gonna point a gun at your head and make you do this if you really don’t want to.’  

‘Stop being nice to me it’s freaking me out.’  

‘I will when you stop being a pussy ass bitch and go through those doors.’  

Keith glared. ‘You little shit.’  

‘But hey, it’s okay. No one will blame you for running away like a chicken. Except, you know, Shiro, he’ll probably blame you.’  

‘I hate you so much.’  

Lance grinned wide with a wink.  

‘You don’t need to wait. I’ll text you or something.’  

‘If you’re sure.’  

Keith nodded and raised his fist. He knocked on the door three times. At the sound of someone welcoming him into the room he felt his stomach drop. Lance gave a solid pack on his back before disappearing.  

He allowed his mind to focus on Lance’s barbing words. Tried to let his competitive nature take over. He would not be out done by a simple door. He was better than that.  

When he opened it and stepped into the room, seeing Professor Shirogane sat at a desk in the middle of the room, he decided that maybe there had been no shame in not coming here and maybe he’d let Lance talk him in to making a horrendous decision once again. Maybe.  

It was a pretty empty office, with an assortment of books and papers stacked in various places and shelves. A desk in front of a window that Shiro sat at, with two other chairs scattered about the room. The open notebook on one of them made it look like someone else was there recently, or was expected back.  

‘Keith,’ the voice was laced with a relief that rekindled his desire to punch a wall. ‘Thanks for coming. I-I hope I didn’t…I hope I’ve not disrupted your plans for the day.’  

Keith shrugged. ‘Nah, I don’t have another class for a couple hours.’  

‘Cool. Uh-!’ Shiro cleared his throat and gestured to the chair on the other side of the desk. ‘Sit down. Do you want a drink?’  

_Fuck no_. That would keep him there. He wanted to be free to bolt at any moment. ‘I’m good, thanks.’  

‘Cool.’  

Keith dropped his bag on the floor and sat down, forcing himself to keep Shiro’s gaze. He wasn’t sure if the stormy pools made the situation better or worse. They put him at ease, if nothing else. There was something calming about his disposition that just never failed to relax him against his will.  

Despite it he could feel a heat on the tips of his ears, a tightness in his chest that wouldn’t go away. He knew exactly the conversation they were going to have and he never thought that he would be the one to have it. Lance, sure. But him? Never.  

Yet here he was. Of  _all the dumb rules_ to break he had to pick this fucking one.  

‘So,’ Shiro started as he cleared his throat. ‘I wanted to apologise for taking advantage of you the other night. It was incredibly unprofessional and wrong of me and I-!’  

Keith scowled and didn’t even let the man finished. ‘Wait, what?’  

‘Uh, you know. Taking advantage. Wrong and immoral. Won’t happen again I promise.’  

He raised a brow. ‘You think you took advantage of me?’  

‘Well, yeah. You trust me, as your Professor. I know I’m only a PhD student, but to you I’m-?!’  

‘Professor, stop,’ Keith held up a hand. ‘You didn’t take advantage of me.’  

‘Really?’  

‘Really. I’m not a child, I can make my own decisions. Even if they’re bad.’  

A small smile tugged at the corner of the older man’s lips.  

‘But I wanted to do this. I have wanted to do this. For a little while.’  

‘How long is a little while?’  

‘Does it matter?’ Keith groaned. There was no point in lying. If they were going to have an honest talk he had to be honest. ‘Since I first saw you at work, the day before you took the first lecture.’ 

‘That does make me feel a little better.’ 

Keith coughed into his fist. ‘Good. At least that’s one of us.’  

‘Thank you for leaving the note, by the way. Made me feel like I wasn’t going crazy when I woke up.’  

The amused tilt in his voice and the honesty that bled through made him settle on yes, the note was a good idea. ‘No problem. I was…a little worried. That I shouldn’t have left it maybe.’  

‘I appreciated it. The drinks were fun, you hold your own pretty well.’  

‘Turned out to be a cheaper night than I expected,’ Keith said with a smirk, rolling his shoulders back.  

‘Next time they’re on you.’  

_Next time._  

He opened his mouth to respond. He couldn’t think of anything.  

Shiro’s cool façade crumbled. ‘I mean-if you want-I know sometimes we bump into each other and-don’t take it the wrong way, I’m not expecting a-a repeat-not that it was unpleasant, I honestly did enjoy myself- _shit shut up_ _Shiro_ -!’  

Keith slapped a hand to his mouth as he tried to stifle his laughter. It didn’t work.  

Shiro’s rambling cut off as his laughter filled the room. It wasn’t long before the older man was chuckling along too, though with a dusting of red across his face. Keith had to admit it. The rambling was kind of adorable. And the confirmation that Shiro had enjoyed himself was also a pleasant ego boost.  

‘Next time, drinks are on me, got it,’ Keith confirmed. His voice still wavered with laughter. ‘Don’t worry about it, Shir-Professor?’  

‘Shiro. Please don’t call me Professor. At least, not outside of class. It’s already weird that other people do it.’  

‘Got it. Shiro it is.’  

The man pursed his lips as he tried to hide a smile, standing and gathering his things. ‘I was going to head out to meet Matt for lunch. Would you like to walk with me for a bit? Seeing as I think I can safely assume we’re not strangers anymore.’  

Keith smiled wide enough his teeth cracked through. ‘Yeah, alright. I think you’ve been upgraded to at least casual acquaintance.’  

* * *

He was heading to his next class. Honestly. He was. But it was so  _easy_ to get distracted when you knew you were about to go learn about bacteria from a lecturer who enjoyed giving pop quizzes on shell identification and it wasn’t as exciting as when they got to study predators and sharks and deep sea stuff.  

The distraction came in the form of a hover bot, camera pointing straight at him. It was quite cool in design, green with a printed name down the side.  _Rover_. Lance raised a hand in greeting as he stared into the twitching camera.  

‘Hey, Rover. You appear to have lost your adult.’  

The robot moved backwards a step. And then another one. Lance moved forward.  

It turned and raced away.  

He totally raised to the bait.  

With a shout after the hover bot he began to chase it, just missing as he jumped up to catch it, despite his long limbs. It had him run round in a circle for what felt like a solid thirty seconds before swooping down under a picnic bench that two girls were sat at.  

He didn’t  _need_ to jump over the table and disturb the pair having lunch. But he did.  

He used the height to try jump and catch the robot. He  _just_ missed, but managed to clip it so it faltered in the air. He was too busy trying to nail his landing and not fall flat on his face to really pay attention to it though.  

Round a tree three times. Just above a ledge as the camera extended and watched him try to scale the pipe to reach the ledge. Back over the picnic bench. Round the back of the building.  

Straight into a giggling girl. He let out an offended gasp.  

It settled down on her extended arm. One hand held a phone, and the other held a mini joy-stick. Brown eyes locked with his and a toothy smile lit up her face.  

‘Thanks for putting Rover through his paces.’  

‘ _Pidge_!’ he clutched his chest. ‘I cannot believe it was you all along!’  

‘I don’t know why you’re surprised. Also, you are so super easy to goad into things, you know that?’  

‘I am aware, thank you very much. Do you want to explain to me what this little exercise was about?’  

She nodded and tucked the joystick back in her pocket, grasping the robot so she could lower her arm. ‘This is Rover, my own little robot. He’s one of my projects for class, and my prize winner from robotics club. Hunk helped me with a couple of the more hands-on parts actually, I mostly do the programming and electronic side of things. He’s a really good engineer.’  

‘He is. I’m so proud of him.’  

‘There’s not much else to say, really. He’s sort of like a surveillance drone with front and rear cameras, though hopefully when I become more familiar with the technology I can give him more functions and features. I’m thinking strobe lights.’  

Lance raised a brow and finally took his eyes off the robot to settle on Pidge’s enthusiastic face. ‘Strobe lights?’  

‘Yeah, you know. Rover the Raver. It’d be great.’  

Lance snorted. ‘I like that one. That one’s good. Keep it.’  

‘What are you up to?’  

‘I was sort of on my way to class, until I got  _sidetracked_  by you. Devil child.’  

‘Sorry not sorry.’  

He blew a raspberry. ‘It’s fine. It was a shit class. Core module. Who needs ‘em?’  

She shrugged. ‘If you want you can help me run a few more tests on Rover. I need to see what his tipping point is where he’d actually fall over. I’m hoping to be able to make him rotatable so that he won’t fall if he gets angled the wrong way.’  

‘You want me to knock him out the sky?’  

‘Basically.’  

Lance hummed thoughtfully and leant in close to the robot. The camera stared back at him.  

Lightbulb.  

‘I will, but only if you do me a favour.’  

‘I’m not using it for unethical reasons, Lance.’  

‘What? No! It’s not-well I guess it’s sort of unethical depending on how you look at it.’  

‘ _Lance_.’  

He waved off her concern. ‘So Keith kind of got called into Professor Shirogane’s office, and I am so sure he’s in trouble for something, but I don’t know and I wasn’t allowed in. Can you use this to like, check up on them? Make sure he’s not murdering Keith or something? You know, because I’m really concerned about my flatmate.’  

She raised a single brow. ‘Uhuh. Sure you are.’  

‘I am! I’m being honest! Baring my heart to you!’  

‘That’s spying, Lance. Unethical reasons. Also, you mean Shiro, right? Scar on his nose, robot arm?’  

‘Are we allowed to call it a robot arm?’  

‘Given that  _I_ built it, yes. It’s a robot arm.’  

Lance’s jaw dropped. He looked to the hover bot. It paled in comparison to a fully functioning limb.  

‘Christ woman what are you capable of?’  

‘A lot. Well, I helped build his arm. My brother and I did it for my science faire project.’  

‘When?!’  

She shrugged like it was no big deal. ‘Like, two years ago? It got me my scholarship.’  

_Holy fuck_.  

‘Holy fuck.’  

She laughed at that. ‘Yeah, so I’ve known Shiro a long time. Like, he and my brother Matt are childhood friends. I’m so not spying on him.’  

‘He’s a puppy! And you know him! You wouldn’t even get in trouble!’  

‘I’ve seen Shiro when he’s angry. If you want to get on his bad side you can do it without me.’  

‘You party pooper.’  

She thrust the drone into his arms and smiled wide, the sun glinting off the lenses of her glasses. ‘Let’s begin. Hold it flat-yeah, like that-alright I’m going to start flying it-put your hand up in the air. Like stretch as high as you can reach, I’m going to fly it to that height. I don’t want you actually slapping it out the air it might damage it.’  

‘You should’ve made it hardier then.’  

Five minutes. It took five minutes before he knocked it at such an angle that it began to fall. She cheered triumphantly and prodded at the feed linked on her phone while Lance scrambled to catch it before it hit the floor.  

‘Alright. Again.’  

Ten minutes later there was a flash of white out the corner of his eye. A familiar laugh that had his head turning. Pidge scolded him for getting distracted, but his eyes had landed on an all too recognisable mullet.  

‘ _Pidge_.’  

She frowned and followed his gaze. ‘No.’  

‘Oh come on!’ he pleaded. ‘You’ve got to put it through it’s paces, right? It’s like a stealth mission! Does it have a mic?’  

‘Yes it has a mic what do you take me for; it’s a  _surveillance_ drone.’  

‘Then test the mic! Go! What are they talking about?!’  

She scoffed but he saw Rover move silently through the air. ‘I can’t believe…they’re laughing. Look at that. Keith is  _smiling_. Clearly whatever it is you’re worried about is false.’  

He ran to her and pressed his head against hers as he peered down at the screen. ‘What are they laughing about? What are they saying?’  

‘Hang on let me turn up the volume on my phone…’  

It was a little garbled. She frowned and raised it to her ear for closer inspection. He glanced across the field to the path where they were walking past. Rover was quite high above them.  

She gasped inward. ‘They’re talking about Bigfoot theories!  _Without me_!’  

‘What?’  

The girl swooped Rover down in front of them to halt their movements before she ran over with determination set across her features. Lance swore and raced after her. Now Keith would know he was spying on them. Gosh darnit.  

‘Keith I can’t believe you believe in  _ghosts_ and not Bigfoot!’  

He saw the violet eyes look from the fast approaching Pidge up to where Lance was, eyes widening. Shit. Shit, shit, shit.  

‘I never said I didn’t believe in Bigfoot. I’m just arguing the point. You have to know what your opponent will say if you want a solid defence.’  

She rolled her eyes and landed the drone on her arm with ease, just like last time. ‘Sure, whatever you say.’  

Shiro stepped forward to investigate the hover bot. ‘This the new toy Matt’s been going on about?’  

‘Probably. I don’t know why though, he’s pretty basic so far.’  

Keith clutched hold of Lance’s arm and pulled him in close as Pidge launched a speech about the little robot, Shiro smiling kindly as he nodded along. Lance grimaced at the harsh pull and tried not to fight it too much. He kind of deserved it.  

‘ _Spying_?’  

He laughed it off. ‘Yeah? A little? I was worried!’  

‘You were nosy you mean.’  

‘That too. You seem in a good mood though.’  

‘Yeah, well…it’s not that bad, right?’  

Lance grinned wide. ‘Right!’  

They turned back to the pair still talking, hoping that they didn’t look suspicious. Pidge was still explaining different aspects of the drone, in much more detail than what she had to Lance. He wasn’t sure if he should feel thankful he had been spared it or insulted that she hadn’t felt he could keep up.  

Which, you know, wouldn’t have been wrong. He had no idea what was happening.  

He glanced to Keith. Keith shrugged.  

‘You are talented, Pidge. I’m sure a strobe light would be a walk in the park to you.’  

Pidge pushed her glasses further up her nose with a wide smile. ‘It’s true. I am. Maybe I should start installing strobe lights into all of my projects…’  

Shiro’s warmth dropped and was instantly replaced with a deadpan face and him folding his arms behind his back. Lance had to choke back a laugh. ‘Keep your paws off my arm, thanks.’  

‘Hey! I never said-!’  

‘I know that look. Stop scheming. I don’t want to run the risk of giving someone an epileptic fit in the middle of class.’  

Keith frowned and looked between them. Lance picked up on it first.  

‘So, Pidge was telling me that she helped build Professor Shirogane’s arm. Two years ago.’  

Violet eyes widened. ‘You built that?’  

‘Yes. Me and my brother. Though I could do better now.’  

‘It’s perfect how it is.’  

She seemed unconvinced by Shiro’s words.  

Keith nodded. ‘It is pretty incredible.’  

Shiro cleared his throat and patted down his front. ‘If you’ll excuse me, I have class to attend. Coran’s roped me into being a substitute for Professor Ulaz, and I promised I’d go early to find out exactly what I’m doing.’  

‘Soon you’ll be teaching more than studying,’ Pidge warned.  

‘It’s entertaining. I’ll catch you guys later.’  

The trio watched the older man wander off with various waves and goodbyes. Lance heard Keith let out a breath of relief next to him and felt a knot that had been tightening in his gut release. Despite his words of confidence to his flatmate, he’d be lying if he didn’t say he was a little worried about what was going to happen.  

He wasn’t sure if that’s because he was worried about the rules, what Shiro would do, or what Keith would do. There was a lot of possibilities and Keith was a little bit unpredictable.  

‘Hey, Keith,’ Pidge nudged as she got out her phone. ‘Want to see a video my drone recorded of Lance chasing it round the courtyard?’  

‘Always.’  

‘Wow, fuck you guys. This is why I never wanted you to meet.’   

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Gimme dat plance y e s


	11. Chapter 11

‘Lance…why are you wearing swimming trunks?’ 

That was the greeting he got when he opened the front door of the flat to see Pidge stood outside, brow raised and giving him the look she usually did when she thought he was doing something utterly ridiculous. 

He grinned down at her and threw his arms wide in the air, ignoring the cold feeling of the outside air against his bare chest and arms. ‘Because it’s  _pool night_!’ 

Pidge visiting the flat had become a frequent occurrence. Since their flat had a little more space than hers, it was easier to host impromptu movie nights, and it also meant that his flatmates were included. There was at least four times in the space of three days where she appeared to work on Rover with Hunk before a Robotics Club meeting, and while at first she and Keith seemed very much to have the distance that “mutual friends” did, when he had to leave early to go to class one day Keith had actually invited her to join him on one of his dumb documentary binge sessions. 

On this occasion she’d rang Hunk, asking if she could crash at their place the night. Plaxum was having some of her fellow exchange student friends stay, and she wanted to give them space. She was fast becoming a familiar face, and a regular in their little family. It was nice. He liked seeing her face. 

‘Pool night?’ 

Lance gestured for her to enter the flat, glancing around the corridors to ensure no one was watching. She was greeted with Hunk sat on the couch with Shay, who gave a little wave and a soft smile. 

Keith appeared from his room, pulling on a black leather jacket. ‘Lance, we’re going to leave any minute. Put on clothes.’ 

‘Rodger that, captain!’ 

Pidge held up a hand for permission to speak. Keith gestured. ‘What is going on?’ 

Hunk was the one who answered as Lance raced to his room. ‘They’re going to the sports facilities to have a ‘midnight swim’. Even though, you know, it’s only half nine.’ 

Lance shouted from his room. ‘By the time we get there it’ll be like half ten! We’re going to do a supply run first!’ 

‘But the sports facilities close at like, eleven. What’s the point?’ 

He poked his head out the room with his trousers half way up his legs. He wanted to be the one who told her, damn it. ‘We’re sneaking in!’ 

‘You’re joking. Also, please finished getting dressed before you come out.’ 

He disappeared back into the room to button up his pants and grab his jacket and backpack. 

Keith filled her in. ‘I heard through the grapevine that there’s a window that backs on to the pool that can’t be locked properly. It’s a climb to get to it, but with two of us it shouldn’t be a problem. All you need is a sharp object to pry it open from the outside, and you can get in.’ 

‘You’re  _breaking in_ to University buildings?!’ 

‘Pretty much.’ 

Lance arrived in the living room, ready to go. ‘You wanna come?’ 

‘No!’ she looked horrified. ‘You know how much trouble you could get into for that?! It’s illegal!’ 

‘Yeah, but it’s also fun.’ 

Keith snorted and raised his fist to meet Lance’s. 

Hunk turned his attention from the TV to address Pidge. ‘They do this sometimes. You kind of just learn to let it happen. If they don’t get their monthly bonding moments in then they start arguing again and I don’t want to live with that.’ 

‘So you just let them break into University buildings in the middle of the night instead?’ 

‘It’s not always this bad! They’ve thought it through at least.’ 

‘Come on, Pidge! What’s the worst that could happen?’ Lance asked. 

‘You could get suspended! Or kicked out!’  

‘And you know what? At least I wouldn’t have to take another pop quiz on shell identification again.’ 

‘This is what this is about? That stupid quiz your lecturer had you take?’ 

Shay patted the space next to her on the couch. ‘Let them blow of some steam. You can just hang out with us for the night.’ 

‘Yeah!’ Hunk grinned wide. ‘We’re going to watch cooking shows so I have inspiration for tomorrow’s dinner! You can help me pick!’ 

‘Can we make it a fish dish and line Lance’s plate with different shells?’ she asked. 

‘Sure man, whatever.’ 

‘Hey!’ 

Keith clapped him on the shoulder. ‘Come on, let’s go. We don’t want to be late. I want to count the people leave so we don’t end up breaking in while someone’s still in the building.’ 

Lance nodded and secured his backpack, stuffed with two towels and a wallet to buy some snacks and drinks with. He said goodbye to Hunk and Shay, and promised Pidge that he’d send her plenty of pictures that would make her super jealous that she didn’t go with them. She seemed unfazed. She was  _totally_ faking it. 

They stopped off at one of the twenty-four hour convenience stores, picking up a couple of bottles of pop and plenty of snacks. Keith snuck in a milkshake before Lance could stop him and tell him he was being lame. Not that they weren’t already kind of being lame. 

Keith parked the bike at the library instead of the sports facility for discretion, meaning they had to walk past the science buildings to get to it. It was the best and closest carpark without actually parking at the sports centre. 

They found a clump of trees for cover that overlooked the indoor pool, the large windows showing a dark room. Half ten, just like they thought. 

‘Count the people leaving. I think they all come out together.’ 

‘What time are they meant to leave?’ 

Keith shrugged and made himself comfortable on the ground. ‘Rolo used to finish a late shift at eleven. There should be four of them that leave the building.’ 

‘Got it, boss-man.’ 

The half hour passed slowly. They sat and munched on sweets, Keith sharing his milkshake between them as they waited. At about ten minutes to eleven, the final lights went out and four people exited the building, three chatting amongst themselves while one locked up. 

They waited for the four to clear the building and be out of sight before they moved. 

Lance lifted Keith up so he could get a better angle, holding him in place as Keith wiggled a blunt knife between the window and the frame. It didn’t take much to encourage open, not actually being locked and just having been pulled shut. Lance dropped him so Keith could stow the knife and they tossed the backpack inside, along with two motorcycle helmets. 

Keith went in first, as usual. 

No alarms went off. Nothing happened. They stared at each other for ten seconds, counting down in their heads. 

Lance threw his arms in the air and let out a loud  _whoop_! 

‘Congratulations, you’re trespassing in your own University,’ Keith said with a laugh as he began to strip down to his swimmers. 

‘This was your idea, hotshot.’ 

‘Was it a bad one?’ 

Lance smirked and clicked his fingers. ‘We’ll find out when I kick your ass at cannonballs.’ 

‘How do you even kick someone’s ass at that. No one is around to judge your jumping.’ 

‘There is  _always a way_.’ 

* * *

It was exhilarating. 

There was something about night time in a pool that made the entire experience better. Keith didn’t know if it was credited to the fact no one else was there, or if it was knowing that they weren’t meant to be there, but between swimming, jumping, and trying to dunk each other, neither had stopped smiling. 

True to his word, Lance occasionally hopped out the pool to grab his phone and take pictures to send to Pidge. He’d get varying responses. At first she sounded almost livid, but after one that got Keith surprising Lance with a tidal wave she seemed to warm up to it all. 

When they sat at the edge of the pool, watching Lance smile down at his phone and text out responses, Keith dared to steal one of his cookies. 

Nothing. Absolutely nothing. 

‘You’re totally into Pidge.’ 

He nearly dropped his phone. 

Yep. Definite proof right there. That  _bright fucking red_ face. Gave it all away. 

‘I am not!’ Lance protested. ‘ _You’re_ into Pidge!’ 

‘Weak.’ 

He stuck out his tongue. 

Keith rolled his eyes. ‘I don’t know why it’s such a big deal. Is it a bad thing?’ 

Lance made a strangled noise before he responded. ‘Let’s say,  _hypothetically_ , I was into Pidge. Because I’m not into her. Because she’s not my type, at all. If anything I’m, like, into her roommate or something. Have I told you about Plaxum? She’s super. I love Plaxum.’ 

‘No, you’ve never told me about Plaxum. You’ve told me loads about Pidge though.’ 

‘Yeah, but Pidge is like our new best friend of course I’ve told you about Pidge.’ 

Keith hummed in agreement, though the smirk on his face gave away his disbelief. 

‘So, hypothetically, it would be a terrible thing. Because, well, she’s gross. Let’s just put that out there. Can you really imagine me spending real actual time with this girl? Two nights ago she lost her hairbrush. Her  _hairbrush_! I wouldn’t be surprised if one day she just shaved it all off for “convenience”!’ he scoffed at the thought. ‘Gross. And I know  _intelligence_ is supposed to be attractive or whatever, but she’s too smart! I’d be constantly paranoid about her plotting to kill me.’ 

‘Are you paranoid about that now?’ 

‘Of course not. Pidge would never kill me.’ 

‘Why would that be different if you liked her then?’ 

‘Because-because-?!’ he huffed and tossed his phone over to where their clothes were before pointing a finger at Keith. ‘Stop trying to trip me up!’ 

‘Come up with better excuses then.’ 

‘You’re the worst. That’s why I could never be into Pidge. When I first met her, she reminded me of you. And I can’t stand you.’ 

‘You live with me.’ 

‘I know. I already live with  _you_ , I’d be crazy to want to then date  _girl you_.’ 

Keith smirked. ‘Maybe that’s why I think she’s so awesome.’ 

‘Great. Fab. Why don’t you go date her?’ 

‘There’s a problem with me dating Pidge and it’s because of the “her”.’ 

‘I’d like to point out that it’s been a solid fourteen days since your little sleepover with our Professor and I’ve not brought it up once.’ 

‘Lance you literally woke me up one morning for class by jumping on me while I was in bed and then claiming you didn’t think I’d be there seeing as I was a slut for daddy.’ 

Lance narrowed his eyes. ‘I may have said something along those lines.’ 

Keith stood, stretching his arms high up above his head. ‘I’ll believe you. For now. Let’s say you’re not actually into Pidge.’ 

‘ _Thank you_.’ 

‘I still don’t know who…it began with Pla? What was her name?’ 

‘Plaxum!’ 

‘Yeah, her.’ 

Lance grinned wide and clambered over to their things. ‘I’ll tell you about her on the way back to the bike. We need to leave. I’m pruning.’ 

They took their rubbish with them, leaving no signs that they were ever there, before going back via the back way that they came instead of through the front of the building. Lance did tell him about Plaxum, a student who was doing one of the one-year exchange programmes with a sister university somewhere in Europe, which explained why a second year was sharing a room with one of the first years. 

He could see the motorcycle as they headed past the library and he felt a surge of pride knowing that they’d pulled off breaking into the swimming pool without getting in trouble. He honestly wasn’t sure they’d managed it. He was a little disappointed in the University for how easy they made it. 

‘Keith?’ 

The pair froze. 

‘Lance?’ 

They exchanged a quick glance. Should they run? Then they’d look suspicious. It was dark out. No one would be able to tell they were being shifty. 

Lance turned round first with his usual brilliant smile and finger guns. ‘Professor Shirogane! What’s up my man? A bit late to be hitting the books, isn’t it?’ 

Keith steeled himself and turned, seeing the PhD student standing only a couple of feet away, a collection of books tucked under his robotic arm. It took him a moment to remind himself not to get distracted by Shiro’s arms and to actually answer the greeting. ‘Hey.’ 

Eloquent as ever. 

‘I’ve got a big assignment due next week, I was hoping to get some last minute sources in to beef it out a bit. I take it that means you’ve not been at the library?’ 

Lance knocked a knuckle against his head. ‘Gotta give the good brain a rest every now and then.’ 

Keith snorted. ‘Don’t want to break what little is there.’ 

‘Hey!’ 

‘Are they…motorcycle helmets?’ 

Lance raised the blue helmet in his hands proudly. ‘Yeah! Keith drove us here. This is mine. Do you like the stickers?’ 

‘They’re pretty cool.’ 

‘Yeah, I know.’ 

Keith raised his own red helmet. It was plain, but it also matched his bike. 

‘Are you…Keith is your hair  _wet_?’ 

_Shit they’ve_ _need an excuse_ _._

‘Lance…yours too? You look like-!’ 

‘You must’ve been inside,’ Keith blurted. ‘It was raining, just a quick shower. Where we were. In town. Ten minutes away. It’s-uh-cheaper for me to park here and us to walk in.’ 

This is why he usually left Lance to do the talking. Because he was awful at it. 

Shiro’s lips quirked up. ‘I see. That makes sense, I suppose. A motorbike also explains the leather gloves you wear, and that jacket.’ 

Keith tugged at the collar. ‘I like leather.’ 

‘You look good in it.’ 

He looked up and searched Shiro’s face for anything vaguely mocking. He didn’t find it. ‘Thanks.’ 

Grey eyes flickered to the side where Lance stood and the man shifted his weight, bringing a hand to the back of his neck as he fumbled for words. ‘Course I guess leather tends to do that. Make people look good. Bring out their best features.’ 

Keith looked at Lance, who had taken a step to the side and was watching them both with a bored expression. He bit back a smile. ‘I’m sure you’d look just as good in it.’ 

‘I don’t know about that one. I’m not sure I could pull off the sexy bad boy vibe like you do.’ 

‘I guess you won’t know till you try,’ Keith answered. ‘Though thanks for the compliment. Again.’ 

‘Yup. No problem. I should, uh, probably get going,’ Shiro gestured behind his shoulder. ‘It’s getting late.’ 

‘I’d offer you a ride, but my bike’s full,’ Keith offered. ‘Maybe next time.’ 

A lopsided smile. ‘I’ll hold you to that. One bike ride, curtesy of Keith Kogane.’ 

‘Anytime.’ 

They stood for a couple of moments and Keith just couldn’t bring himself to make an excuse to leave. The widening smile on Shiro’s expressive face was too much to leave. Watching his face transform through emotions was something special he didn’t get to do nearly as often as he’d like. 

Someone cleared their throat. Keith jumped out his skin.  _Lance_. 

‘Right, yeah, it was nice to see you, Lance.’ 

‘You too, Professor,’ there was a soft tremor in Lance’s voice. ‘Enjoy studying.’ 

‘I’ll try. See you in class.’ 

Keith smirked and turned on his heel. ‘See you in class,  _Professor_.’ 

The small huff of annoyance made it worth it. 

The boys headed back to the motorbike without a word. As the cloud in his mind began to clear he became very aware of what transpired and how  _Lance had been next to him the whole time_. How could he forget Lance, of all people?! 

The Cuban boy leaned against the bike with a shit-eating grin, waggling his brows. He looked ridiculous. As usual. 

‘You were totally flirting.’ 

Keith scoffed. ‘What?! No. We were not.’ 

‘You totally were. Like, the flirting train pulled into the station and got good and comfy for ten minutes while you chatted on the platform and lingered around all coyly like before it departed again. Choo choo motherfucker.’ 

‘You’re ridiculous.’ 

‘Am I?’ Lance questioned. ‘Am I really, Keith? I can assure you that I have two eyes with a perfect twenty/twenty vision that can clearly see the obvious flirting.’ 

‘Damn it.’ 

‘Take the compliment, man.’ 

‘What compliment?’ 

‘The compliment of the fact that our Professor totally was digging you five minutes ago.’ 

Keith didn’t want to speak in case his voice gave anything away, because he definitely felt a pleasant surge of pride at the confirmation of what happened. Lance did have eyes,  and a brain, and probably knew what he was talking about. 

‘I was half tempted to give up my seat so you could drive him home. But, you know, I’m not that nice. I’d rather you take me home instead.’ 

Keith rolled his eyes and secured his helmet. ‘Get on the bike, Lance.’ 

‘You’re smiling! I can see it! You’re  _happy_!’ 

‘I’m allowed to be happy.’ 

‘That’s basically confirmation that I’m right, you were  _totally_ flirting oh my goodness I’m going to have to give you pointers because I thought of at least twenty one-liners you could’ve used during that conversation.’ 

‘I am not using your shitty lines on Shiro. Get on the bike.’ 

‘It’ll be great. Trust me. He’ll be swooning at your feet.’ 

‘Why not use them on Pidge if they’re that good?’ 

Lance squawked. ‘We’ve already settled that conversation for the night!’ 

‘Have we?’ 

‘Yes! Don’t bring it back up!’ 

The ride back was pleasant, and it was past midnight by the time they stumbled back in. Shay had left already, but Hunk and Pidge sat on the floor in front of the bedrooms with various bits and pieces out, Pidge with a laptop and Hunk with a toolbox. 

Lance retold the daring story of how they broke in to the building, embellishing certain details. Pidge paused him to ask relevant questions such as “why does Keith carry around a knife?” and “if Shiro asks me, I hope you don’t expect me to cover for you”. Keith excused himself for bed, stepping around the parts of Rover to get to his room before stripping off and falling face first into bed. 

He slept with a warm fuzzy feeling in his chest and the knowledge that whatever weirdness was between him and their Professor, it definitely wasn’t awkward. It was a weirdness that he found himself almost  _enjoying_. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is one of the chapters I was most looking forward to writing when I started it. I just love character bonding moments. If you didn't notice.


	12. Chapter 12

It was red alert. All hands on deck. Emergency situation that needed addressing ASAP. Could not be ignored any longer. Mayday, mayday, someone please come save him from the ocean before he drowned. He may have been a strong swimmer but not even he could handle this flood. Where was his Hunky Monkey when he needed him? 

‘…can you believe it?! They’re programs that usually only final year students and above are allowed to use, but my Professor said that he thought watching the other students and being shown the basics might give me a little inspiration on what I can do to develop Rover!’ 

Maybe he didn’t need saving. Maybe saving was the wrong term to use. Maybe it was assisted suicide he needed. Keith. Keith would happily murder him. It’d be like a dream come true for the emo mullet. Everything he’d ever wanted. A dead Lance. Then everyone would be happy. 

‘Course, Hunk’ll be there too, and we have to have an older student with us to supervise and stuff because it’s expensive equipment that we’ll be dealing with and first years are usually not considered experienced enough to not break it, but that’s okay! Because they said I could take Matt or Shiro, seeing as Matt’s doing his PhD in the same department and Shiro’s practically a lecturer now!’ 

Perhaps he was being a little melodramatic. He could handle this. He could totally handle this. He’d done this before, how hard could it be to do it this time? 

‘That’s really great, Pidge. I’m glad you’re getting more resources to work on Rover.’ 

Pidge’s wide grin broke out even further, her eyes crinkling through her glasses and her cheeks brushing against the bottom of her glasses. ‘Thanks, Keith. I’m sorry I’m rambling.’ 

‘Don’t worry about it. When are you going to work on him?’ 

 ‘I have to find out when all our schedules line up so that I can get Matt or Shiro and then Hunk also together to go, but hopefully next week, or the week after!’ 

Her brown eyes might as well have stars in them. That’s how visibly excited she was. She hadn’t sat down since she arrived at their flat, too busy bouncing on the spot and gesturing wildly with her arms. She was wearing one of her dumb nerd shirts too with spaceships on it. It was adorable. There was no hiding it. 

‘But anyway, where is Hunk? I need to grill him.’ 

‘He went down to the corner shop to do a quick food run. We’re having seafood tonight and he needed some stuff for the sauce.’ 

She nodded franticly and grabbed her bag. ‘Got it! I’ll go find him. See you guys in a bit!’ 

The door slammed. Keith’s eyes finally met his. Lance felt like  _crying_. 

‘You alright there?’ 

Lance groaned and picked up the closest pillow, wrapping his arms round it and covering his face. ‘Just murder me. Smother me with the pillow. I have nothing left to live for.’ 

‘What are you talking about?’ 

‘You were right. You win. I give up.’ 

He was met with silence. 

‘I’m totally into Pidge.’ 

He heard Keith snort and shot up, throwing the cushion across the room where Keith sat on his armchair. ‘It’s not funny, man!’ 

‘It’s kind of funny,’ Keith argued. ‘And don’t you think you’re being a little melodramatic? You’re into Pidge. Big deal.’ 

‘Big deal?!’ he flopped back down on the sofa. ‘It is a big deal! It’s Pidge!  _Pidge_!’ 

‘We established that bit.’ 

‘I don’t know how to handle this. She’s part of our friendship group. She’s like, one of my best female friends. This has never happened to me before.’ 

‘Two days ago you were arguing with me at the pool about how you would never be into Pidge. What happened?’ 

Lance combed over the conversation they just had. The way she threw herself into the room and wrapped her arms around him in the most enthusiastic hug he’d ever been given. How she looked up, bursting with the good news, needing to share it and choosing him. Well, them, but he was there. And she’d been looking at him with that look as if she’d just seen heaven itself. 

It clicked. 

It clicked and then it all came tumbling down around him. It was like he’d been in the dark for the past couple of months and now finally her hug had been the sunshine to light up the room and show him just how deep in he’d gotten. How badly he’d… 

‘It just kind of happened.’ 

When had he started falling? When had he stopped seeing her as the little gremlin and started seeing her as…whatever the hell this was? But he still though of gremlin when he saw her, and really he always got excited when he knew Pidge was coming round, and he had always been willing to drop everything if it meant joining Pidge on some science adventure. 

‘You knew,’ Lance muttered as he continued to stare at the ceiling. ‘You guys have been calling her my-my-?!’ 

‘Girlfriend.’ 

‘-Yes! That! For so long! Because you knew!’ 

Keith shrugged awkwardly and looked away. ‘I mean it was kind of obvious, dude.’ 

‘I can’t believe I didn’t realise. I could’ve stopped this.’ 

‘I don’t think you can really stop feelings…’ 

He couldn’t stop thinking about the freckles that dotted her cheeks, pushed high up from the wide smile or a bark of laughter. The smirk she’d give him when she felt like she’d won something, raising her chin to look directly at him. The way she chewed down on her pencils when she was concentrating, or would tuck them in her tiny ponytail and wiggle them so much that the hairband would just pop out. 

‘I’m so screwed.’ 

Keith stood and moved closer to him, giving his leg a pat. ‘Want me to get you a smoothie?’ 

‘Fuck yes. Can I have one of the fruity ones with strawberries and green tea base? I love those.’ 

‘Sure, whatever you want.’ 

And now he was about to have a  _movie night_ with her. And his flatmates, given that it wasn’t designated Lance and Pidge movie night at her place, and Hunk had been the one to pick the film for the night while they ate. But she would still be there. In his general vicinity. 

Never mind murder. With the way his heart was racing he was probably going to die from it bursting out his chest. 

‘Can we just...I dunno, cancel movie night tonight?’ 

He heard Keith shuffling round in the kitchen. There was a long pause before the fridge door shut and the dark haired man came back through, brows pulled together. ‘You don’t mean that.’ 

‘I do. Let’s cancel. I want to wallow in my shame in peace.’ 

Keith passed him the bottle with a smoothie inside. He took it and refused to look at the violet eyes of  _judgement_. ‘I’m not going to let you wallow in shame.’

‘If you really loved me you would.’ 

‘Good thing I don’t then.’ 

‘You’re  _such_ an asshole.’ 

There was a tired sigh. Lance popped the cap off the smoothie and began to drink. Silences like this usually meant Keith was trying to formulate words, which could take anywhere between thirty seconds and five minutes. 

‘Lance…’ here it came. Here was the awkward scolding that was meant to be motivational. ‘If it’s really gonna upset you, I’ll text Hunk and ask him to take Pidge out to celebrate their little achievement or whatever so you don’t have to see her.’ 

He stopped. What. What was happening? When he turned to look Keith’s eyes were darting around the room and there was an uncomfortable grimace on his face. 

What. 

‘Is that what you want to do?’ 

‘I thought you said you wouldn’t let me wallow in shame?’ 

He shrugged. ‘I won’t, but you said I didn’t have to see Shiro when we were standing out his office. You gave me an escape route. I figured it was the least I could do to give you one.’ 

‘You won’t let me wallow, but you won’t force movie night?’ 

‘Yeah. We can do…something else.’ 

He hadn’t thought this out, clearly. 

‘Whatever you want. I’ll let you pick.’ 

‘You know what, this is weird. I get why you told me to stop being nice to you when we were outside his office, I don’t like it.’ 

Keith smirked. ‘Yeah, but I went in. You’re backing out.’ 

‘Woah, woah,  _woah_ , I am  _not_ backing out?’ 

‘So movie night’s still on then?’ 

Shit. Fuck. Damn.  _Fuck this guy_. ‘Yes. It is. I’m going to sit here on this couch next to Pidge and continue on as if nothing ever happened.’ 

‘Which is fair, seeing as nothing did happen.’ 

‘Exactly.’ 

Keith patted him on the arm and stood. ‘I’m glad we had this talk. I would’ve hated to tell Hunk you were fighting with your girlfriend.’ 

‘She’s  _not my girlfriend_!’ 

He spent the rest of the time waiting for Hunk and Pidge to return psyching himself up for it. They returned soon after his conversation with Keith, arms full of bags and wide smiles on their faces. Hunk began preparing food while Pidge and Keith hung out on the couch watching dumb YouTube videos as usual. 

Lance felt a usual pull to hang out with her. She was funny. He always liked spending time with her. 

He instead helped Hunk prepare food. When they finished and returned to the living room he was horrified to see a line of shells on the coffee table set up by Keith and Pidge who insisted he couldn’t eat until he told them what each was. He told them to shove it up their asses. And then identified them incorrectly with dumb names on purpose. 

They settled down to watch a film, Keith taking his usual spot on the armchair and Lance squishing between Hunk and Pidge on the couch. 

It didn’t feel nearly as uncomfortable as he thought it would. He was expecting heart palpitations and electric shocks but it was the same as normal. But he supposed that was the key part: it  _was_ normal. This wasn’t a new thing. It was just before he hadn’t really known. 

He mentally cursed the shells on the table. Damn them. This was all their fault. Somehow. 

The movie reached the end and Keith was on his feet, checking his phone for the time and grabbing the closest jacket, even brushing a hand through his bangs to make them less knotted. It was suspicious. 

Hunk called him out on it. 

‘You alright, Keith? 

‘What?’ Keith shrugged on his jacket. ‘Yeah. Just popping out. Going down to Rush for a couple of drinks.’  

 ‘Didn’t you go out yesterday?’ Hunk asked with a frown. ‘To the same bar? Are you feeling okay, man?’ 

Keith shrugged it off. ‘It’s a nice bar.’ 

Lance’s eyes widened and his jaw fell slack. Keith’s face flushed as soon as their eyes locked. ‘You wanna tell me what bar it is, Keith?’ 

‘Fuck off, lance.’ 

‘Oh my goodness!’ he pointed an accusing finger. ‘You better get his number this time!’ 

‘I said  _fuck off, Lance_.’ 

The door slammed shut and both Pidge and Hunk turned to look at him with questioning looks. 

‘There’s some hot bartender or something. He won’t tell me more than that.’ 

They bought it. 

If only they knew. 

* * *

It was a little bit pathetic. Keith knew this. He knew that he couldn’t exactly turn up every night until he bumped into the older man. It just wasn’t feasible, and would drain his wallet. But he hadn’t really gone into this with a game plan. He was just kind of…winging it. 

Maybe he should’ve spoken to Lance about it. But then he’d also run the risk of the man pulling some big extravagant plan which was just not happening. 

The bartender served him and he returned to the empty table by the window. It was seriously pathetic, but… 

He still felt kind of hopeful. 

Two people came over to speak to him, one a familiar face he knew from dancing the night before, and the other a fresh one who wanted to keep him company. Polite conversation and a decline of their offer and he was left to enjoy the night on his own. 

His drink was nearly finished, along with his resolve. This was a stupid plan. He really needed something a little more concrete than “turn up and see what happens”. He didn’t even know what he expected if he did bump into the other man. He didn’t even know what he  _wanted_. 

‘Hey, this seat taken?’ 

The voice sent a chill down his spine. He glanced up to see grey clouds and a sunny smile. He gestured to the chair opposite him. 

Professor Takashi Shirogane. Now that part of his grand idea had happened and he’d bumped into the man he realised just how thin his plan had been. In that it stopped there. It reached the end. He didn’t know what to do. 

A drink slide across the table to sit in front of him. Keith looked up with wide eyes. ‘I thought it was my turn to buy drinks?’ 

Shiro shrugged. ‘I noticed you were low. And I can’t resist a pretty face.’ 

_Our Professor was totally digging you five minutes ago._

‘You here on your own again?’ 

Keith nodded, pushing memories of Lance’s words out his mind. ‘Yeah. You?’ 

‘I certainly am. Though, if you’re not doing something, we could always be here on our own together?’ 

There was a moment of hesitation. A moment where he wondered what the hell he was doing. ‘Is that…wise?’ 

Shiro faltered. 

‘Not in-I don’t mean that I don’t want to. I do. I want to be on my own with you. But I don’t want…I don’t want to get you in trouble.’ 

A soft smile. ‘Hey, you’re not going to get me in trouble. Besides, we’re two mature, sensible adults, right? We have impulse control.’ 

‘Lance and Hunk are my impulse control.’ 

Shiro rolled his eyes. ‘If Lance is half your impulse control I’m seriously concerned about what you get up to when Professors aren’t around to keep an eye on you. Like walking in the “rain” in town when you’re on the way back to your bike.’ 

Keith smirked and took a sip of his drink, not daring to expand on what that had been about. 

‘But I get your point. If you’re not comfortable with it, then that’s fine.’ 

‘Maybe…’ Keith spoke before Shiro had a chance to leave. ‘Maybe this one. Give it another chance.’ 

‘Sounds good to me.’ 

‘You’re gonna have to have impulse control for us both though.’ 

‘No pressure or anything.’ 

‘None at all.’ 

He knew it was probably a poor decision. If he had been smart, he would’ve politely accepted the drink, sat down and had a chat, and then left. But if he was smart he probably wouldn’t have even gone again on his own waiting for Shiro to creep out the woodwork. If he was smart he probably would’ve never spent the night with him the first time it happened. 

‘So Pidge,’ Shiro started with all the put on casualness in the world. ‘You guys are friends?’ 

He shrugged with a smile. ‘Yeah, I guess so. She and Lance watch a lot of movies together. She’s round our flat a lot.’ 

‘I’m glad. She’s always been mature for her age. It’s nice to see her properly making close friends with people who aren’t her brother.’ 

‘You said she’d built your arm,’ Keith muttered. ‘How’d that happen?’ 

Shiro raised the metallic arm to rest on the table. ‘It was a school project, and the source of her scholarship when she started college. It was Matt’s idea originally, he wanted to build it for me after I lost mine, and she’d already been helping him with a lot of his other experiments. He let her take the lead on it and made sure nothing went wrong.’ 

‘What happened to your arm?’ 

Grey eyes flickered down to where metal met flesh. Keith felt a flush of shame course through him. 

‘I’m sorry, that was rude. I shouldn’t have asked. It’s not my place.’ 

‘It’s…fine,’ Shiro’s voice was soft under the sound of pulsing music. ‘I got into a rough patch when I was travelling once. It was just me and Matt. I think he felt guilty about it.’ 

Keith decided it was probably better not to ask for more details. 

‘But I got a cool robot arm out of it, so that’s a pretty sweet silver lining?’ 

‘It is. You’re right.’ 

‘I’ve known the Holts for a long time. I interned with their dad when I was in high school, and Matt and I were only a couple years apart. Pidge was still tiny at the time.’ 

‘She’s still tiny  _now_.’ 

‘Poor girl never quite got that promised growth spurt.’ 

Keith snorted at that one. ‘It makes it easy to tell when she and Lance are coming. There’s a bit of difference in height.’ 

‘I’ll give you that one. The troublesome trio.’ 

‘Trio?’ 

A playful smirk decorated his face that sent Keith’s heart into overdrive. ‘You’re just as bad.’ 

‘Maybe.’ 

‘Maybe I should be worried about poor Katie,’ Shiro’s voice dropped a few octaves. ‘Hanging around with troublemakers. You two are probably a bad influence on her.’ 

‘She’s the mastermind. We’re just her arms.’ 

‘I’ll give you that one.’ 

Keith’s fingers twitched as his eyes raked across the tuft of white hair hanging across Shiro’s forehead, lit up in all the colours of the flashing lights of the bar. He licked his bottom lip and pulled it in to bite as his gaze dropped past the defined scar, steel eyes, smiling lips… 

‘Right,’ he cleared his throat and looked down at his drink. ‘I guess that explains why you live with Matt. You live with Matt, right? I’m remembering that right?’ 

‘Yeah, I live with Matt. Pidge’s brother. And Allura.’ 

‘Coran’s niece?’ 

‘Something like that. I don’t think there’s blood relation, they’re just super close.’ 

‘Where’d you meet Allura?’ 

‘Second year. She and Matt hit it off pretty quickly. He has a tendency to make friends wherever he goes. Hey, do you wanna dance?’ 

Keith let out a breath of relief. The air was too heavy where they were sitting. ‘Yes.’ 

It didn’t get better from there. He was hoping that moving from the intimacy of a table with just the two of them would improve it somewhat, that bringing other bodies into their vicinity would help him concentrate on things that weren’t the man opposite him. But they didn’t. 

He was having to make a conscious effort to keep any part of his person from getting too close to Shiro. Make sure their arms didn’t meet. Make sure his chest was at least a foot away from Shiro’s at all time. Make sure when he stared at the firm jaw or radiant smile he didn’t star for more than four seconds. 

Make sure he didn’t make it weird.  _But fuck_ he kind of wanted to make it weird. 

They lasted two songs before the dance floor became too crowded and he couldn’t keep the distance between them anymore. He felt laughter rumbling from Shiro’s chest as he fell into it, his hands splayed across it to keep himself steady. Shiro took his arms and whisked him off the dance floor, outside the building into the fresh air. 

Maybe that was what he needed. Maybe it was fresh air. 

‘When it gets busy it gets busy, huh?’ 

‘You can say that again,’ Keith agreed. He wiped sweat from his brow and gestured for Shiro to follow him a little further away, round the corner where there were less smokers and more garbage bins. ‘I still have to buy you that drink.’ 

‘There’ll be plenty of time,’ Shiro assured. ‘Unless you’re wanting to pack in already?’ 

A challenge he couldn’t back down from. Keith smirked and spun on his heel, taking a couple steps back and preparing to floor Shiro with a scathing comment about age. He didn’t get the chance to. 

He felt the weightlessness of a fall and his arms shot forward as he failed to keep balance, wide eyes meeting Shiro’s. A cool metal hand grasped out and clamped down on his forearm with a grip that almost hurt, giving a solid  _yank_  and propelling him forward. 

Forward straight into Shiro. Forward with enough momentum that he smacked straight into him and in turn knocked him into the wall of the alley. 

Alley. Why did he pick an  _alley?_

Shiro was looking down at him with an indescribable look, his jaw clenched and his brows pulled down as if he was in pain. Keith could sympathise with that. There was warmth emitting from the other man that he just didn’t want to part with. The outside air suddenly seemed so much colder when he was pressed against a living furnace. 

 ‘I don’t think I have enough impulse control for the both of us,’ Shiro muttered as he looked down at Keith, back pressed up against the wall and his hands clasping Keith’s arms firmly. One hand hot, one hand cold. ‘I don’t think I have enough impulse control for just me.’ 

‘That’s fine,’ Keith muttered, reaching up to wrap one hand round the back of the man’s neck. ‘Don’t have any.’ 

‘But you…you wanted to avoid this. I told you I’d try.’ 

‘I lied,’ he confessed. ‘I only came tonight because I hoped I’d bump into you. That’s why I came last night too, but you weren’t here.’ 

‘Keith…’ 

‘I’ll let go if you do.’ 

Shiro hesitated. They weren’t nearly as drunk as last time. Keith was certain he couldn’t blame this one as an intoxicated mistake. But it was still a mistake he wanted to happen. 

Neither of them moved. He didn’t give Keith an answer. There was no yes, no confirmation, no agreement. Keith felt his impatience growing and pulled himself up enough to press a light kiss on the other man’s lips, testing the waters, trying to coax some sort of response and answer. He hated waiting. He hated not knowing. He needed to  _do_ something. 

Shiro pulled him up and gave his agreement. 

They didn’t go to a room. While he was sober enough he couldn’t pin it on a drunken mistake, he was drunk enough that he didn’t really care that they were stuffed away in a back alley on the scene. Hands groped and breath mingled as they spluttered and scrambled against each other, his back landing solid with the wall and Shiro lifting him enough that his feet came off the ground, legs wrapping round the narrow waist. 

He gasped against a wet mouth and pushed back against grinding hips. It was messy and filled with desperation that had him feeling like a teenager on prom night but he wouldn’t trade it for anything. 

Shiro’s hand clasped around his mouth as he began to get too vocal, the prosthetic securely keeping his hips locked in place and gripping into his ass so hard he was worried it might bruise. He whimpered into the flesh and knew he wouldn’t be able to wipe the memory of the grunts Shiro was making for weeks. Not that he’d want to. Not that he would  _ever_ want to forget the pure desire that was in those eyes that were locked on  _him_. 

They came down from the high of rutting against a wall and stumbled out the alley with sniggers and laughter, shoving at each other and helping keep the other one standing. Shiro announced that he was  _done_ for the evening and would not be okay wandering around with soiled underwear for the rest of the night, offering to accompany Keith home. 

Keith declined with a teasing lilt, assuring him that it might be a little suspicious if he brought his  _Professor_  back. The bright red colour that Shiro’s face took made it worth it. 

They parted ways with a hug and an awkward wave and Keith found himself stumbling into the flat and-! 

_What the fuck._

Three pairs of eyes snapped to him. He scrambled for his phone and opened it to find the time. 

It wasn’t even one o’clock yet. He’d been gone for two hours max.  They’d barely lasted an hour and a half of keeping their hands to themselves. 

‘Uh, yo.’ 

Lance wolf whistled and he bolted to his room. 

So much for being inconspicuous. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I love everything about the idea of Lance just being hit with HEY FEELINGS when it comes to realising he likes one of the Paladins.


	13. Chapter 13

Keith had flaws. He wasn’t ignorant to this. Sometimes he was a little hot-headed, and sometimes he was a little too quick to act. Sometimes Lance would make jokes and reference humour that kind of just slipped by him but that was okay, because he knows that he doesn’t do it intentionally. 

Another of his flaws was that he wasn’t always the most subtle. 

He was a doer not a thinker, and subtly tended to require some kind of background planning that he was not an expert at. But he thought he was doing pretty well. 

He was packing up his bag after one of his classes, parting ways with his classmates in order to wander through the building for the correct office. The flowery writing on the door was a dead giveaway, and every time he saw it he had to stifle a bout of laughter. 

He rose his fist to knock when the door flew open, coming face to face with a white haired woman who looked just as surprised to see him as he was to see her. 

‘Oh!’ she took a step back and looked him up and down. ‘It’s you!’ 

He raised a brow and lowered his fist. ‘Yeah. It’s me. I guess.’ 

‘Sorry, I’m Allura! It’s nice to meet you…?’ 

‘Keith,’ he greeted, shaking the hand that was offered. ‘Nice to meet you.’ 

‘Properly meet you I mean,’ she glanced over her shoulder where Shiro stood not far behind. ‘You didn’t tell me you were having company, Shiro.’ 

Keith saved him from coming up with something. ‘I borrowed some texts for Professor Smyth’s class. Or, well, I guess Shi-Professor Shirogane’s class.’ 

‘I see,’ her face took on a more relaxed smile. ‘You’re one of Shiro’s new students!’ 

‘Yup.’ 

‘Is he a good Professor? I keep trying to convince him to let me sit in on one of his lectures but he won’t let me!’ 

Shiro stepped forward, placing a hand on Allura’s back and pushing her forward, out of his office. ‘And no amount of bothering students is going to convince me to change my mind. It’s embarrassing enough that you and Matt have started calling me Professor round the flat; I don’t need to fuel it.’ 

She giggled and flicked her hair. ‘Whatever you say,  _Professor_ _Shirogane_.’ 

With a quick goodbye and a wiggled finger wave Allura was clipping her heels down the hallway to get to one of her classes, leaving him with Shiro. The man stepped back and held the door open, a wide grin as he gestured for Keith to come in. 

‘I wasn’t expecting you. I would’ve tidied up a bit or something if I knew you were dropping by.’ 

Keith cocked his head with a smirk. ‘It’s an office. How tidy does it have to be?’ 

‘Were the books helpful?’ 

‘Mostly,’ Keith nodded. ‘There was one in there that was a little out of place.’ 

He dropped the three texts down on the table. Two biology books and an advanced mathematics. 

‘Right. That’s where Matt’s book went. I should…find an excuse to sneak that into his room without him realising I took it.’ 

Keith nodded and moved round the desk, dropping down into Shiro’s chair. ‘Nice place you got here.’ 

The larger man folded his arms across his chest, lips pulling up in amusement. ‘Thanks, I tried to make it my own. I see you’re making yourself pretty comfortable.’ 

Keith flashed his teeth with a smile. ‘Your chair just looked so inviting.’ 

‘So I take it you’re not just here to drop off some text books,’ Shiro moved round the desk, his hands gripping the arms of the chair as he towered over Keith. 

‘Whatever gave you that idea?’ 

‘Just a hunch.’ 

Keith swallowed as he admired the way the storming eyes seemed to devour his image, strong arms caging him in. ‘You’re not wrong.’ 

‘How else can I help you today?’ 

He brought a hand up to Shiro’s collar and gave himself a point for managing to not let his voice shake as he spoke. ‘I, uh, I was actually hoping you could go over some of the stuff from last class. It didn’t quite stick in my head. I was a bit distracted.’ 

‘By what?’ 

He licked his lips and locked on to the ones that were still  _too far away_. ‘You.’ 

Shiro came crashing down and he pushed up to meet him half way. He felt his whole body erupt in a shiver as a metallic arm grasped hold of his waist, pulling him up out the chair and spinning him round till he felt the tell-tale feeling of the edge of a wooden desk. He reached his hands round to grip at the back of Shiro’s shirt, using the momentum to bring him forward to press their bodies flush together. 

Shiro pulled back for a moment, looking down with a clouded gaze. ‘I’m not sure this is conductive to learning.’ 

‘Screw  learning.’ 

He felt the vibrations of Shiro’s chuckle against him and the larger man reached back, pushing until Keith heard the clatter of text books landing on the floor. Keith threw himself into the kiss once again, grunting as his back landed against the hard desk below and shuffling to a more comfortable position, raising his legs to wrap round the narrow hips in an all too familiar pose. 

It was a dance he didn’t think he could ever get tired of. The feeling of one hot and one cold arm clinging to him together, running up his stomach and pushing his t-shirt until it was riding high under his armpits. He gasped out as the warm mouth left his own and began to trail sloppy kisses down his jaw and neck, moving further down till he felt a trail of wetness running from his ribcage to his bellybutton. 

He looked down in time to see Shiro’s tongue lap at the skin before sucking down on the pale expanse. It was a sight he wasn’t going to forget in a hurry, fingertips digging into the flesh of his hips in a way that left him wanting more. 

A rush of heat surged through his body and he let his head hit the table before tangling his hands into the black and white hair that lay somewhere round his stomach, teeth and tongue covering every inch of bare skin they could find as a hand came to settle between his legs. 

'Shit,' he gasped out at the contact, desperately seeking more friction. 'Please, fuck...' 

There was a knock on the door. 

Keith’s eyes blew wide as he looked down for an answer from Shiro, who’s head had snapped up to look at the door with mouth gaping. 

‘Shiro my boy? Are you in there?’ 

_Coran_. 

Keith may not have been the most subtle of people, he may not have thought things through, but when it came down to a quick decision he would make one: for better or worse. 

He shoved upwards and slid off the desk, landing on his ass with a heavy thud and a small curse. Shiro began to speak, greeting the man at the door and telling him to come in as Keith hid himself in the small opening that the desk provided, thankful for long wooden back it had to give him cover. He kept his feet high; avoiding putting them on the floor just in case Coran noticed them instead of what would be the shadow of his dark trousers blending in with the floor. 

‘Oh deary me, seems Matt’s left quite a mess on the floor!’ 

Shiro gave a wavering laugh. ‘You know what he’s like. Never picks up after himself.’ 

‘He really ought to start looking after his things better! One of these days he’s going to drop something and- _CRACK_ -it’s going to break just like that!’ 

‘Can I help you with something?’ 

‘Yes, don’t worry, I won’t take up too much of your time. I was hoping to talk to you briefly about the classes you’re covering, and a meeting we have coming up with the board. I think it would be quite a good learning experience if you could come along!’ 

Shiro sat down in his chair, bringing it closer to the desk. Keith squished himself further into a ball to avoid knocking into his knees. 

‘I don’t suppose you could spare five minutes, could you?’ 

‘I can manage five minutes, sure.’ 

Keith resisted the urge to smack his hand to his forehead. If Shiro thought that this was only going to take five minutes, then he’d clearly never had to sit through one of Coran’s lectures of anomalies in genetic pools. Or one of his lectures in  _anything_ , frankly. 

He prepared himself to get comfortable for the long haul. He’d planned on it only being a quick pitstop, it wasn’t going to take an hour to nip in and say hello. This visit was supposed to just burn sometime between lectures, but instead… 

He fumbled as he felt his phone vibrate in his jeans, squirming round and trying to brace himself against the sides of the desk as Coran’s enthusiastic voice rang out through the room. He opened up a message from Lance that had just come through and wished he could just phase through the floor below to escape. 

_Yo_ _bro where u @?_

Keith cursed silently as he looked down at the message, biting down on his lip as he tried to figure out a way to explain it. Coran was continuing to drone on and on about something that he honestly couldn’t give two shits about, but apparently it was important enough that Shiro was listening attentively instead of shooing him from the room. 

_In Shiro’s office. Coran’s in here. I’m trapped under the desk._

He remembered to turn his phone on silent so the buzz and vibrations of it going off didn’t tip Coran off as to where he is. 

_Ur_ _jking_ _, rite?_

_No. He’s started a rant. I’m going to miss my next class._

_Well if u could keep it in_ _ur_ _pants…_

_Lance now is not the time please help me._

_Omw_ _._

That only promised pain. Though he honestly didn’t have much choice in this instance. Every now and then he’d hear Shiro try to interrupt or suggest that they move elsewhere, but he’d fail to get a word in edgeways or he’d be shot down with an assurance that Coran wouldn’t be long. 

Keith checked the clock on his phone. It had been ten minutes so far. Bullshit to not being long. This was torture. How was he supposed to explain this to his lecturer in his next class? 

There was a loud bang. Coran stopped. Keith peeked under the desk to see a pair of familiar grey sneakers at the door to the office. 

‘Shiro!’ that was Lance’s voice. ‘Coran, you’re here too! Thank goodness, I need your help!’ 

Shiro cleared his throat before he spoke. ‘What can we help you with, Lance?’ 

‘Pidge is stuck in a tree!’ 

Keith resisted the urge to facepalm. He felt Shiro tense next to him before he spoke: ‘Pidge…is stuck in a tree?’ 

‘Yes! I need your help getting her down!’ 

Coran spoke next. ‘How on earth did she end up stuck in a tree?’ 

‘She said she only trusted me as far as I could throw her, and I told her that I could throw her plenty far, but then she laughed and told me to prove it, so I did. And I threw her into a tree. And now she’s stuck.’ 

‘Oh. That’s rather impressive, Lance, well done.’ 

‘Thank you!’ he sounded exasperated. ‘At least someone appreciates me!’ 

‘Why can’t she get down?’ 

‘She’s scared of heights or something I don’t know. Or trees. I think she said something about hay fever. Apparently despite me showing I can throw her far her trust in me has not grown.’ 

Shiro’s voice was laced with laughter. ‘I can’t imagine I’d trust someone who threw me into a tree if I’m honest.’ 

‘I need help getting her down, and I thought hey! Shiro’s tall and also reasonably close by! But between the two of you I bet you’d get her down easily.’ 

There was a crack of someone’s knuckles as Coran spoke. ‘Well, I may not be as spry as I used to be, but I’ve got a fair few tricks left in these old bones! Let’s see what I can do to help you out.’ 

Shiro stood, allowing light to reach Keith as his bulky frame left the desk and he walked round to the others. ‘I’ll see what I can do. I’m sure between the three of us we should be able to get her down. Or…the two of us.’ 

Lance let out a dramatic sigh. ‘Yeah, whatever. I know when I’m not wanted.’ 

The door clicked shut as the three filed out. Keith crawled out from his hiding space, peaking up over the top of the desk before he stood fully. He brushed himself down and straightened out his shirt before heading straight for the door, pressing an ear to listen out for anyone close by. 

Silence. 

Time to run. 

He darted out the office and went as quickly as he could without looking suspicious. He made it outside the building before he noticed where Lance was with the two Professors, who were using their height to slowly bring Katie Holt down from the tree that presumably Lance had threw her in. Shiro and Coran reached up towards her as she murmured to herself and looked between them and the ground below with wide eyes and stiff limbs.

Blue eyes met his. He gestured madly at her. Lance shrugged and finger gunned. 

He thought it was all a rouse. But no. Lance actually threw Pidge into a tree. That’s. That’s wonderful. 

He joined the four and gave a light shoulder punch to Lance in hopes it would communicate his appreciation for what his friend had done. The beaming smile he was met with promised yes, he understood. And he was going to hold it over Keith’s head. 

Pidge glanced down at him and in a surge of courage jumped into the arms of the two men below her. They helped her into a standing position, Shiro checking that she was okay and making sure she hadn’t hurt herself, while Coran boasted about how youthful he felt. Keith tried his best not to be too obvious when Shiro looked up at him. Tried. 

Lance nudged him in the side. Okay end the eye contact got it. 

‘You alright, Pidge?’ Keith asked. ‘I thought getting stuck in trees was a cat thing.’ 

‘It is, except when someone  _throws_ you into one!’ 

‘Hey, you bet me I couldn’t throw you far. I think I successfully proved you wrong.’ 

Keith wasn’t supposed to know what had happened. Of course. ‘You threw Pidge into a tree?’ 

Coran clapped his hands together. ‘I’m sure you three can continue this discussion on the way to your next classes. Shiro and I have very important work to get on with, so we’ll leave you here. Shiro?’ 

‘Yes, Coran. I’m glad you’re alright, Pidge.’ 

The two left. Silence settled. Keith sighed and finally let his shoulders drop. 

‘Alright, one of you explain to me right now why I needed to be throw into a tree and told to wait for Shiro and Coran to help me out of it because Lance didn’t exactly explain what was happening, but seeing as you oh-so-conveniently showed up,  _Keith_ , I bet it has something to do with you.’ 

Shit. He had to come up with something fast. Or perhaps… 

‘You’re not allowed to tell anyone.’ 

She raised a brow. Lance stiffened next to him. 

‘And we can’t talk about it here.’ 

‘Keith,’ Lance started, leaning in to talk lower. ‘You don’t have to-!’ 

‘She deserves to know why she got thrown into a tree. Not that I’m not grateful. I really am.’ 

‘Alright.’ 

She folded her arms across her chest and let the boys guide her further away from the building, to a clearing where fewer students were. A place where they could talk quietly without worrying about anyone overhearing what he had to say. He could see Lance’s brain working a mile a minute to salvage the situation and come up with something. He probably already had. Keith was probably throwing a spanner in the works with this stunt. But he  _wanted_ to tell Pidge. 

He wanted to be able to confide in her. To tell her the truth. To have another person on his side. 

She spun and narrowed her eyes at him. ‘Spill-!’ she held a finger up at Lance. ‘And I want to hear it from you, not Mr Silver Tongue over here.’ 

‘I don’t know if I should be offended or not.’ 

Keith sucked in a breath. He could do this. He’d done it before, right? Lance knew already. What was one more person? Pidge at that, who had somehow so easily slipped into their group. ‘I was trapped in Shiro’s office.’ 

‘Trapped?’ 

He shrugged. ‘Yeah. Coran came in and I had to hide under the desk but he wouldn’t shut up so I texted Lance and asked him to come save me.’ 

Lance took his cue. ‘That’s why I was in a rush. I threw you into the tree to have an excuse to get both Coran and Shiro out of the office and give Keith time to get away.’ 

‘He’d been talking for ten minutes. I was starting to get a neck cramp. It was really not comfortable.’ 

She glanced between the two. ‘Why were you…’ 

It was like a literal lightbulb lit up in her eyes. He fought back the embarrassment that he was sure was creeping on to his face, raising his hand to run through his dark hair and feel the top of his forehead-yep, definitely too warm. Lance wasn’t looking directly at her; instead his eyes flickered about everywhere else. 

‘Did you two  _steal something_ from Professor-?!’ 

‘No!’ they both shouted. ‘Shit, Pidge, that’s not it at all!’ Lance hissed. ‘Keep your voice down!’ 

‘A prank then?’ 

‘No, nothing like that!’ 

Keith sighed and took a step closer to whisper. ‘Pidge. I was in there on my own. Not with Lance.’ 

‘He could’ve been keeping wa-but he was with me.’ 

‘Exactly. It was just me. Lance wasn’t involved at all. Just me and Shiro.’ 

Her eyebrows shot up. ‘Are you sleeping with Professor Shirogane?’ 

‘Uh…sort of?’ 

‘Sort of?’ 

Lance rolled his eyes. ‘Yes. He means yes.’ 

‘I mean sort of. Almost.’ 

‘He’s working up to it.’ 

Keith flushed. ‘Don’t be a jackass.’ 

She pinched the bridge of her nose. ‘Alright. You don’t really seem like the type to sleep with a Professor for better grades.’ 

‘I’m not. That’s not what’s going on.’ 

‘And honestly if you were, you’d be smart and pick someone who actually had swing rather than a student lecturer.’ 

‘Exactly.’ 

‘So, what? You’re dating your Professor?’ 

‘No-that’s-don’t be-!’ he shook his head wildly. ‘We’re not dating.’ 

‘They’re definitely not dating. I can confirm that,’ Lance supplied. ‘They just hook up on a frequent basis because Keith is a thirsty-!’ 

‘You can stop helping any time,  _thanks_.’ 

‘Hey, I saved you! Don’t pull this shit with me!’ 

Keith glanced at his phone, seeing a new text from the very Professor they were talking about. ‘I should get going. I do actually have class in five minutes.’ 

‘I’ll just gossip with Pidge about you while you’re gone.’ 

‘Whatever. Thanks for the help though. I appreciate it.’ 

Lance waved him off, throwing an arm around Pidge’s shoulders so she couldn’t get away. Keith pulled out his phone once again so he could open up the message from Shiro and reply properly. 

_I take it we owe Lance one?_

_Yeah. He can be pretty handy in a crisis._

* * *

Lance watched as Keith wandered off, his arm still wrapped around Pidge’s shoulders to keep her tucked against his side. Part of him was thankful that Keith had decided to be honest about it so that Lance hadn’t had to make up a story for the whole mess on the spot. It wasn’t that he didn’t trust Pidge, but… 

It wasn’t really his secret to trust to someone. 

‘Keith and Shiro, huh?’ 

Lance chuckled and pulled back, shrugging it off. ‘Yeah, I guess so?’ 

‘How long has that been going on for?’ 

‘A couple of weeks or something? Remember when he came home that night after going to Rush. The night we watched The Hateful Eight.’ 

‘I remember.’ 

‘That was the second time. They’d kinda…been a bit weird about it till then. I think.’ 

She whistled low and turned her focus back to where the black haired man had disappeared to. 

‘I think it’s still a little weird for them. Shiro’s not exactly a fully fledged Professor, but…’ 

‘But he still teaches your class specifically,’ Pidge agreed. ‘I get why it’d be weird. I can’t say I’m surprised though.’ 

‘What do you mean?’ 

She bit down on a smile. ‘I remember the kind of people Shiro would be interested in growing up. Sometimes he and Matt would take me places with them because our parents insisted I get out the house more, and I’d have to suffer through them talking about girls and sometimes boys. Keith’s totally his type.’ 

‘Do you think…you know Shiro. Is it gonna be weird?’ 

She shrugged. ‘I don’t know. A little bit. I think Keith should be the one to tell him I know though.’ 

‘Oh man, I don’t think I’d be able to resist the urge to tease him. I make fun of Keith all the time.’ 

She frowned and looked up at him. ‘Wait, is this where the daddy thing comes from?’ 

‘Maybe.’ 

A wide grin split across her face as her lashes lowered. ‘If Keith does tell him I know, I’m  _totally_ going to tell him about that.’ 

Any quip that Lance could’ve prepared in response to her joke was quickly stifled by a strong pump of warm flutters that his heart shot out through the rest of his body, zeroing in on the teasing smile and glittering brown depths. He swallowed a lump in his throat and tore his eyes away before he managed to laugh, letting out a breath of relief as she turned and began walking again, resuming their initial plan of taking a nice stroll to the coffee shop. 

He was going to have to try get those hot flushes under control if he wanted to keep this thing under wraps. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Pigge knows how to keep a secret 
> 
> Right? 
> 
> Totally.


	14. Chapter 14

They met in the café attached to the campus library, Shiro having to be there anyway to finish the assignment that was close to being overdue. Keith figured he probably owed it to the older male to let him know what had happened the previous day with Coran and Pidge in the tree. 

Any nerves he had about Shiro’s reaction melted once he saw the easy-going smile, sitting down opposite the man and dropping his bag to the floor. Keith offered to get the drinks seeing as he’d failed to get them the last few times they’d been out drinking and thankfully Shiro didn’t complain. 

They settled down and Shiro’s eyes were drawn to the notes in front of him as he stirred the drink Keith had got, his own black coffee clutched in his hands. 

‘So,’ Keith cleared his throat as he started to speak. They’d chosen a table next to the window, far away from the counter. Thankfully this time of day the library café was practically empty. ‘The other day. When Lance threw Pidge into a tree.’ 

Shiro’s eyes flickered up for a moment. ‘Sorry about Coran. I don’t want to say no to him, and I always forget how long his short conversations are.’ 

Keith snorted. ‘It’s alright. Lance is resourceful when he needs to be.’ 

‘He’s pretty smart.’ 

‘He knows, about all this. He has since the beginning, I-uh-freaked out on him the first time.’ 

Shiro looked up properly with a lopsided smirk on his face. ‘I’m not surprised.’ 

‘But,’ he grimaced. ‘I kind of also told Pidge.’ 

Grey eyes widened. He sucked in a breath. ‘Oh. Pidge. Right.’ 

‘She was kinda confused about why she’d been tossed into a tree and told to wait for you and Coran to arrive and I felt bad lying to her…’ 

‘You did the right thing, Keith. Don’t worry.’ 

He nodded. ‘I should’ve asked you first.’ 

‘Probably,’ Shiro admitted. ‘But you were right not to lie to her. She’s a good friend of yours, and loyal to a fault sometimes. Like when she lets people throw her into trees without questioning why until after.’ 

‘It was kinda funny.’ 

‘It was hilarious. I went back home that night and told Matt what happened.’ 

Keith bit down on his lip. ‘Does Matt…have you told anyone?’ 

‘No, I haven’t. I…’ Shiro shrugged. ‘I don’t want to tell Allura. She’s…wonderful, but sometimes a little quick to jump the gun. And Matt would never let me live it down.’ 

‘Pidge isn’t going to tell Matt, is she?’ 

He shook his head. ‘Those two are good at keeping secrets to themselves. They’re close, but not at the expense of other people.’ 

‘Good.’ 

Shiro reached across the table and gave a quick pat to Keith’s forearm. ‘Thanks for letting me know.’ 

The softness on the hard face was always a delight to see. It was one of the things that drew him back in each and every time. When Shiro was looking at you, speaking to you, it felt like there was nothing else in the world that could take his attention away. 

Keith opened his mouth to speak, start asking mindless questions just to keep the conversation going and the moment running, pointless small talk he never liked but wanted to know about this man. But he was cut off. Cut off by an obnoxious, loud,  _cringe worthy_ noise. It took him a good few second to realise that the noise was coming from his jacket. 

Shiro raised an eyebrow as he looked between Keith’s pocket where his phone sat and the man’s gradually reddening face. ‘Is that…the  _Dream Daddy_ theme song?’ 

‘Holy fuck,’ Keith felt the words come out in a whisper and scrambled to get his phone from his pocket, looking at the caller ID. Definitely his phone. That was Pidge calling making his phone make that noise. 

There was always one joke-loving goofball that came to mind when he thought of Pidge. 

‘Pidge,’ Keith tried to keep his voice steady as he answered the phone, heart thrumming in his chest with a mixture of embarrassment and pure  _rage_. ‘Is Lance with you?’ 

_‘Uh…’_ she was silent for too long.  _‘No?’_

‘Well when you see him next can you tell him that if I see him in the next three days I’m going to personally see to it that you’ll be arranging his funeral.’ 

_‘I’m sure I can somehow get that message to Lance, definitely-!’_ there was some static of movement and whispered voices.  _‘You know what maybe we should ring back later-_ _oh_ _shit_ _.’_

‘We?’ his voice began to rise. ‘He’s with you now, isn’t he?’ 

_‘I_ _gotta_ _go, Keith. Later!’_

‘Pidge don’t you-!’ he cursed as he was met with a dial tone, pulling back to look at the screen. She’d ended the call. She’d  _hung up_ on him the little shit. 

‘Is everything okay, Keith?’ 

‘What?’ he snapped his head up, meeting Shiro’s gaze and instantly regretting it. ‘Yeah. Fine.’ 

A lopsided smile and voice shaking with badly concealed laughter. ‘You wanna tell me what that was about?’ 

Keith groaned and dropped his phone on the table. ‘Not really.’ 

‘I guess I’ll just have to imagine then.’ 

He buried his face in his hands. ‘I’m not sure that’d be better or worse.’ 

‘Oh, it’d be worse. I’m sure of it.’ 

Keith peeked through a gap in his fingers, seeing the smug bastard opposite him smiling that gentle smile that did funny things to his stomach. 

He lasted a total of ten seconds before he groaned and cracked under the pressure, fingers making claws as he sought out something to break within the air. 

‘Lance must’ve stolen my phone and changed my ringtone!’ he explained. ‘He has this running joke that-that I have a daddy thing.’ 

Shiro raised a brow. ‘Should I ask why?’ 

He tried to be nonchalant about it. He really did. ‘You know. Cause…I mean it’s been going on since the first time you came into the store and then the next day I told Lance about you and then it turned out you were taking a lecture for Coran?’

‘He jokes that you have a daddy thing because of  _me_?’ 

‘Yeah. Pretty much.’ 

Shiro’s eyebrows pulled together. ‘Do I really look that old?’ 

‘No!’ Keith floundered at the air. ‘Not at all! You don’t honestly, I think it was just the way I described you to him, what was it he picked up on? The white streak and that you were sophisticated! That was it.’ 

The crease smoothed out. ‘Sophisticated?’ 

‘I know better now.’ 

He chuckled. ‘That’s true. I suppose not many men my age have white hairs already.’ 

‘Exactly.’ 

‘I guess I can see where he got it from.’ 

‘But I don’t,’ Keith clarified. ‘Have a daddy thing. It’s just some dumb joke he made. I’m not actually-I don’t think like that. About you. Or anyone else.’ 

The amused sparkle was back in his eyes. ‘I wasn’t judging, Keith.’ 

‘Only because there’s  _nothing to judge_.’ 

‘Hey, you know what they say.’ 

Keith frowned. ‘What?’ 

‘Don’t knock it till you try it.’ 

He felt his spirit leave his body. Abandon him when he needed it most. Leave him for dead. Death by heart attack. 

‘Please don’t start hyperventilating.’ 

‘I’m not hyperventilating!’ he spluttered out. ‘You know for someone older than us you sure as hell aren’t more mature.’ 

Shiro had the gall to laugh. ‘I’m sorry, I couldn’t resist. It is kind of funny.’ 

Maybe a little bit. 

‘In the interest of protecting Lance’s safety, I feel like you shouldn’t be allowed in the same room as him for a while. What did you say? Three days?’ 

Keith glowered. ‘At least.’ 

‘I do have the flat to myself tonight.’ 

His brain stopped. 

‘At least, Allura’s gone for most of the evening. And it’ll be easy to get rid of Matt and have him keep his lips shut tight.’ 

‘I’ll definitely kill Lance if I go home tonight.’ 

‘I guess, as his Professor, I should do everything in my power to keep that from happening.’ 

Keith pursed his lips in an attempt to stop the grin. ‘I guess you should.’ 

* * *

‘He might actually kill me.’ 

Pidge finally got control of her laughter and wiped a tear from her eye, looking every bit not-sympathetic-at-all. ‘Yeah, probably.’ 

Lance grinned wide and looked up at her. ‘It’ll be totally worth it. How furious did he sound?’ 

‘Like, actually livid.’

‘I hope he was in public. Or out with Shiro somewhere. That would’ve been perfect.’ 

She sniggered at that. ‘I’ll have to check with him. I’m kind of scared to text Keith just in case he’s still not calmed down.’ 

‘He’ll burn out fast, no worries. This isn’t the first time he’s been mad to the point of bodily harm with me.’ 

‘Why does that  _not_ surprise me?’ 

His toothy smile widened as she gave him one of her signature “Endearing but Stupid” looks. ‘Beats me.’ 

‘I guess now we can’t find out if he knows what the movie was called.’ 

‘I know,’ Lance groaned and pressed the palms of his hands to his temple. ‘I’m such a fool.’ 

‘We know.’ 

‘Hey!’ 

She grinned wider. ‘Maybe you should let me pick one for once.’ 

‘I don’t know if I trust you. I don’t even know what movies you watched before I came into your life.’ 

She shrugged lightly. ‘Admittedly I prefer to watch TV shows in my own time.’ 

They were sat on Pidge’s bed in her room, Movie Night dictating that she got the space for the whole night. Plaxum had been there when he arrived, babbling a little psychotically about a big experiment that she and a few of her friends were going to conduct by the seafront before she disappeared into the night. 

Pidge sat with her legs crossed and her laptop open on the desk next to the bed, while Lance sprawled on his back across the rest of the expanse. He’d take the space while he had the chance. 

‘Cool, what’s your favourite to watch?’ 

She hesitated, glancing between him and the laptop screen as she clicked away. ‘I’m watching Arrested Development at the moment.’ 

‘Put an episode on.’ 

‘You won’t know what’s happening.’ 

‘You can summarise what’s happened so far I’m sure it won’t be that hard.’ 

She smirked, but didn’t look back at him. ‘Are you sure you can keep up with it? Aren’t you worried my tastes are going to be too…’ 

‘Just because you’re a super genius doesn’t mean you aren’t attracted to stupid just like the rest of us.’ 

Her smirk widened. ‘Explains why I keep hanging out with you.’ 

He stopped. His eyes widened. He tried to rephrase the sentence in his head. 

‘Shit, not like-?!’ she slapped a hand across her mouth and her back went ramrod straight. ‘Cause you’re stupid. And yet you’re still my friend. Attraction in a friendly way.’ 

‘Right,’ his throat felt dry. ‘That makes sense.’ 

‘Yeah,’ she went back to clicking furiously at her laptop. ‘So I’ll just go from where I left off, right?’ 

‘Uh…sure.’ 

He watched as she clicked away, searching through the computer for the right file or site. He watched the way the screen would change in brightness and colour and reflect into her round glasses, light up the freckles on her face or change the way the shadows from her fringe fell on her face. 

The slip of her comment sent his brain into overdrive. He knew that it was just a sarcastic comment gone wrong, but he couldn’t help but feel slightly proud of what it could have meant. Could have meant that she found him attractive, even if he was a bit of a clown sometimes. 

He watched how her knuckles turned white from gripping her ankle, the way her shoulders were hunched to close her off to everyone else. 

He reached up to swipe at her glasses, stealing them from her face before he positioned them on his own, preparing a funny voice to quote her with as he rolled off the bed into a standing position. 

‘Sweet fuck,’ he stumbled as he stood. ‘You’re  _blind_.’ 

‘I’m not blind! I just have a weak left eye.’ 

‘Keep telling yourself that,’ he wiggled them about on his face before clearing his throat. ‘I am the Great Pidge, with refined tastes that you couldn’t possibly hope to understand, and an adorable robot Rover who is better than people in every way.’ 

‘Lance.’ 

He ignored the warning tone, choosing instead to lean down at the waist and push the glasses down his nose to peek over the top and wink. ‘I also have a Super Best Friend who is totally attractive, and I like to give him the Endearingly Stupid look.’ 

‘I don’t do that!’ 

He laughed as she went to grab her glasses back and jumped back a few steps. ‘Even though I believe I am  _beyond_ such basic actions such as  _humour_ and  _laughter_.’ 

‘I laugh all the time!’ 

‘Yeah, because you hang out with me all the time and I’m  _hilarious_.’ 

‘In your  _dreams_.’ 

‘I make Plaxum laugh!’ 

‘She’s just too nice to call you out on your bullshit.’ 

He pushed the glasses on the top of his head, looking down to see a smile dancing on her face. She was leaning back on one of her hands, looking as though she was waiting for the next round of dramatics. Looser. Perfect. 

He flopped down on the bed next to her, getting up close in her personal space so their shoulders mushed together. ‘Alright, let’s give this show a try, shall we?’ 

‘Give me my glasses back, first. I can’t see without them.’ 

‘I  _knew_ you were blind.’ 

Lance actually found himself enjoying it more than he initially thought he would. They sat and powered through a few hours worth of episodes, not stopping until he felt Pidge’s head land on his shoulder and he began to slowly drift off himself. It was how Plaxum found them when she finally got home, propped up against the headboard sleeping on each other’s shoulders with the laptop spread across their laps, long since powered down. 

Her entrance startled Pidge awake, who knocked into Lance as she did so. The newcomer apologised profusely and offered to go to her friend’s room for the night but Lance was quick to decline the offer, not really feeling comfortable to actually formally spend the night in Pidge’s room. Pidge seemed just as uncomfortable about the idea. 

He said goodbye to the girls and headed back to his own flat with a skip in his step and a smile on his face, despite his yawning at how late it had got. 

* * *

Keith stopped short. It took him a few moments to realise what it was that was off about the picture. At first he thought it was his fuzzy sleepy morning brain still somewhere between dreaming and reality, but it wasn’t long before he realised that it wasn’t that at all. 

Shiro was missing an arm. 

Which wasn’t surprisingly. It was common knowledge. The robotic arm that he usually wore didn’t look exactly real, instead being metallic and black. But he was missing that metallic, black arm, and it was throwing Keith for a spin. He was sat on the desk chair positioned next to the bed, only having pulled underwear on when getting up that morning, with the arm positioned firmly between his knees and a damp cloth in his hand. 

‘Shiro?’ he murmured as he pushed himself into a sitting position, dimly aware of the bed sheets that fell down his naked torso and pooled at his waist. ‘What’s going on?’ 

The man looked towards him, grey eyes flickering across his body for a few moments, before he turned back to the task at hand. ‘Good morning. How’re you feeling today?’ 

Keith moved silently. He held the bed sheets firm and pulled them with him to hold on to some sort of modesty before he sat with his legs crossed on the edge of the bed and held out his hands, gesturing at the arm. ‘Give it. Let me do it.’ 

‘It’s alright, really. I know it looks a little uncomfortable but I’m used to-!’ 

‘Give it.’ 

Shiro clamped his mouth shut, surveying Keith’s expression. Once he wheeled the chair closer to the bed he handed the cloth over followed by the arm. ‘Thank you.’ 

‘No problem,’ Keith muttered before he began to clean the top end of the arm. ‘What time is it?’ 

‘A little after seven. You’re up early.’ 

He shrugged. ‘I’m a light sleeper.’ 

‘Sorry. I didn’t mean to disturb you,’ he cleared his throat. ‘I need to keep it clean. I try to do it in the mornings as part of routine, so I don’t forget. Thanks for…your help.’ 

Keith glanced up with a smirk. ‘You’ve already said thank you.’ 

‘Right. I have. You’re right.’ 

He held up the arm for Shiro’s inspection. ‘How’s this?’ 

‘Spotless.’ 

Keith looked to the circular plate on the end of Shiro’s right arm, which the fake arm would lock in to. ‘Do you need me to do that bit as well?’ 

‘If it’s not too much trouble.’ 

He shook his head and moved forward. 

There was something horrendously intimate about it. Shiro moved the stump to better face Keith and it was  _weird_ and a little surreal, but once Keith was up close and personal with the limb any discomfort soon disappeared. His right hand held the cloth that he moved around the plate and the flesh surrounding it, while his left hand settled firmly on Shiro’s shoulder. He felt the muscles ripple as Shiro shifted around in the seat. It lit a fire in Keith’s belly. 

‘Stop moving.’ 

‘Sorry.’ 

‘You’re such a fidget.’ 

‘I’m not really used to someone doing this for me.’ 

Keith glared. ‘I can stop.’ 

‘I’m not complaining,’ Shiro insisted with a smile. ‘It’s kind of nice.’ 

‘Whatever.’ 

He continued on in silence, enjoying the way he could feel Shiro’s collarbone move against his left pinky with every intake of breath. 

Maybe he took a little bit longer than he should’ve to properly clean the plate. It was good to be thorough though, right? Keeping it clean and all that. 

He pulled back and gave a triumphant smile which was cut short as he felt a cold feeling on his lower back inching down towards his rear. 

‘What the-?!’ he shifted quickly and dropped the cloth, seeing a sheepish grin on Shiro’s face. His left arm held the right one in place, which was creeping round to grope him and _-moving_? 

‘How are you doing that?!’ Keith demanded, scrambling as he nearly lost the bed sheets covering his modesty. ‘It’s not even attached to you!’ 

Shiro’s laugh was honest and open. ‘Sorry! You just-you’re really cute when you’re concentrating. I had to.’ 

‘Shiro!’ 

‘It’s connected to a chip in my brain somewhere. I can move it even when it’s not directly attached. The technicalities Pidge or Matt would be better explaining, but I know it’s not the direct connection that makes me move it. It just takes a lot of concentration when it’s not attached, it’s more difficult.’

‘Next time I’m going to watch you struggle.’ 

Shiro’s wide grin said his threat fell of deaf ears. ‘Shall I show you how to clip it back in place?’ 

Keith looked down at the plate. He kind of was really curious as to how that worked. He nodded and Shiro offered him the arm once again before he began to talk through the process, bending it at the elbow so Keith could get the best grip. He pushed it back in place, pushing three clips on the side of the plate in so as to keep it locked in. Shiro flexed the robotic wrist. 

‘Is it not uncomfortable to sleep with?’ 

The question seemed to catch him off guard. ‘I-I don’t normally sleep with it on if I’m honest.’ 

‘You did last night.’ 

‘I didn’t want to make you uncomfortable.’ 

Keith felt his heart stutter. 

‘I know it’s weird. To see. It’s weird for me to see when I look in the mirror sometimes.’ 

‘I don’t mind.’ 

Shiro looked up with wide eyes. ‘Really?’ 

‘Yeah,’ Keith shrugged. ‘It’s a thing. I mean sure it’s weird, but weird doesn’t mean  _bad_.’ 

He chuckled. ‘Thanks, that means a lot.’ 

Keith ran a finger across the smooth surface of the arm as he spoke. ‘What time do you have to go to class?’ 

‘My first class today isn’t till ten, so I have about an hour till I need to think about getting ready and leaving. What about you?’ 

Keith bit on his lip. ‘Like, eleven or something.’ 

He felt a strong grasp take hold of his jaw, pulling his gaze up until it locked with Shiro’s. He felt a shiver run down his spine at the look that pinned him down. 

‘Would you mind keeping me company for a bit longer?’ 

All the breath left his lungs. He nodded mutely. 

Shiro smiled and leant down to wrap him up in the first kiss of the day. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I've had that scene with Keith and Shiro at the end written out for so long I'm so glad I finally get to share it


	15. Chapter 15

Lance let out a loud groan as they walked across the grounds, resisting the urge to tear his own hair out. Pidge didn’t help him any as she laughed at his misery from where she sat, tapping away at her phone as she did so. 

‘I can’t believe that asshole!’ Lance whined as they walked. ‘Three thousand words, in like, two weeks? What kind of monster is she?!’ 

‘At least you’ve pretty much got all the source material for it, right?’ Keith questioned. 

‘Yeah but that’s not the point,  _Keith_! The point is she’s an evil monster and needs to be stopped!’ 

Pidge scoffed. ‘I’ll agree with that one. She’s a jackass.’ 

‘Thank you. At least I know one of you has my back.’ 

Keith rolled his eyes. ‘Whatever. We can always do something to celebrate once you’re finished. I heard that the security guard down at the old rail tracks has a nap at about seven o’clock every evening and leaves the thing unguarded?’ 

‘Oh sweet!’ 

‘You can leave me well out of that,’ Pidge snapped. ‘Don’t even talk about your dumb ideas while I’m about. It makes me shiver.’ 

All joy between the trio left as a wicked grin spread across Lance’s face. ‘Hey look, it’s dream daddy-!’ 

He was cut off by Keith groaning loud over the top of him to drown him out. ‘Do not start. I already had to explain that to him, you jackass.’ 

‘You shouldn’t leave your phone unattended on our coffee table then.’ 

‘One day I’m gonna stab you.’ 

Pidge ignored their bickering in favour of rushing over to the Professor, who was currently engaged in a conversation with Allura. The boys shared a pitiful glance before they followed behind. They were supposed to be going to the café together, they couldn’t exactly ditch Pidge half way there. 

‘I’m afraid I’m a little busy at the moment, Pidge,’ Allura explained in response to a question. ‘I have to attend a study club. You should visit soon though, I miss having another girl around the house.’ 

‘Only because you miss being able to pin mess on someone else,’ Shiro muttered under his breath. 

Pidge grinned wide. ‘I will, Allura. I promise.’ 

‘I best be off,’ the dazzling blue eyes glazed over Lance and Keith. ‘Enjoy your coffee, Shiro.’ 

‘The Prof’s coming with us?’ Lance perked up at that. ‘Sweet!’ 

‘I have something I need to ask him about his arm,’ Pidge explained. ‘I figure this is probably the easiest way to do it. Besides, you looked ready to die, and since someone mentioned milkshakes you’ve perked up considerably.’ 

Lance stuck his tongue out at the small woman. ‘Up yours.’ 

Shiro waved his goodbye to his flatmate before the four of them continued on their way, and Lance continued his long tirade about why he hated Professor Haggar, and was absolutely delighted when Shiro let it slip that he wasn’t exactly fond of her either. And by not fond, he meant Shiro called her a soul sucking bitch under his breath.

Lance and Pidge battled for first place in the queue, Keith snorting with laughter as he watched the pair. He totally let her win. 

He sat down at a four person table next to her once he had his drink, stirring the sugary goodness in front of him with his straw as he prepared his mind to be woken up with a sugar kick. He looked over to see the sandy haired girl next to him eyeing their companions who were still in the queue deciding what they wanted. 

Keith leant up as he nudged Shiro in the side, and the bigger man leant down to whisper something in his ear. 

Pidge let out a low whistle. ‘Wow.’ 

‘Yeah,’ Lance shrugged, loudly slurping through the straw of his milkshake. ‘I’m honestly surprised that you didn’t notice it sooner, Little Miss Super-Genius.’ 

‘I guess before I never really considered it, so never bothered looking.’

The pair got to the front of the queue and as Keith reached for the wallet in his back pocket, Shiro placed a hand on his lower back and spoke quietly before he began to order off the board. It wasn’t until he had to withdraw his own wallet that he removed the hand from Keith’s back. Lance could see the pink dusting on his flatmate’s cheeks from where he sat on the other side of the store. 

‘They’re really gross. And they think they’re subtle about it?’ 

Lance shrugged. ‘I mean I guess no one’s noticed yet, or if they have they haven’t said anything, so…’ 

‘That’s true. But still. It’s…wow.’ 

The pair moved to wait for their drinks at the end of the bar. Shiro said something that made Keith laugh, black bangs shifting over his face and framing it perfectly. A soft smile decorated the PhD student’s face as he watched the younger man. Lance turned to locate the exact position of the toilets. Just in case he felt an overwhelming urge to  _throw up everywhere_. 

‘I’m going to get diabetes watching them I swear to fuck.’ 

‘You’re telling me,’ she muttered. ‘How long have they been dating for?’ 

‘They’re not dating.’ 

‘Yeah sure. Seriously, how long?’ 

‘Seriously, they’re not,’ Lance insisted. ‘From what I gather they occasionally hook up and their interaction beyond that is strictly Professor and Student. They talk after class sometimes, and I think I remember Keith texting him? Other than that, this whole Shiro coming for coffee thing is new. As in, today new.’ 

‘I cannot believe this is something I’m watching with my own two eyes. You know Shiro used to come round to my house and help baby sit me when I was like, five? Because my brother is incompetent.’ 

‘How weird is this for you?’ 

‘Pretty weird. They’re coming over.’ 

Lance turned to see the pair holding a cup each, giving a little wave to let them know which table they had sat at. Keith took the seat next to him, allowing Shiro to sit next to Pidge seeing as she was technically the reason why he was there. Even if it didn’t look that way. 

Lance shot Keith a judging look. His flatmate flipped him off. The judging intensified. 

‘You mentioned you had some things you wanted to look at in regards to my arm?’ 

The two turned their attention to their companions across the table. Shiro had lifted the robotic limb onto the table, his palm spread wide and facing the ceiling. Pidge nodded as she reached forward for it, her small fingers wrapping round the large hand without fear. 

‘Yes, obviously when Matt and I made it a couple years ago I was a less experienced than I am now. I was hoping that you might be willing for us to meet at some point and take a proper look at it, see if there’s any improvements that we could make to it and upgrade it in some ways.’ 

‘That’d be fine with me, Matt’s always on my case about it. Apparently he looks at it now and thinks it’s amateurish.’ 

‘He’s right. It is.’ 

‘It got you in on a full scholarship, didn’t it? Even though it’s two years old.’ 

‘Yes but its old. Dated. It may work fine, because realistically we made it in order to ensure durability, but I  _know_ with some updated programming it could be even smoother. Like-!’ she waved a hand round in the air to summon the words. ‘When you have a car that’s quite old it still works fine and there’s nothing wrong with it, but when you get into a new car you suddenly realise how much  _better_ it is to the old one.’ 

‘That makes sense. Just…’ Shiro grimaced. ‘Try not to let Matt get too carried away, alright? There’s a reason I haven’t given him free reign over it yet.’ 

She smirked and let go of his hand as she returned to her iced drink. ‘Don’t worry. Though I think you should really reconsider his suggestion of a vibr-!’ 

‘No.’ His voice was firm and sharp. ‘Don’t make me regret this.’ 

‘I won’t. I promise.’ 

‘No strobe lights, either. I haven’t forgotten about that.’ 

Lance whistled. ‘Sounds like between those two they’re ready to have you decked out for a party.’ 

Shiro grimaced. ‘That’s what I’m worried about.’ 

She laughed it off. ‘Don’t worry; it’ll be strictly professional and practical upgrades. Unless you change your mind.’ 

‘Which I won’t.’ 

She began to prattle off a list of questions on how it worked so far, anything he noticed that he wanted changing about it. Keith and Lance quickly lost interest in the conversation, instead ducking their heads down and quietly discussing the rail track with the lazy security guard under their breaths so that Shiro wouldn’t overhear them. 

By the time the man had finished his coffee Pidge was nearly finished, and on her last question he excused himself to go finish up some work he had to do, leaving the three of them to wander the campus while they waited for Keith’s class to start. 

The dark haired man gave a brief wave before he jogged off towards the lecture hall, leaving two behind. They walked to Pidge’s car in mostly silence, only with the occasional offhanded comment from Lance to break it up. 

He found he didn’t really mind. 

‘So the new Thor is out,’ Lance shoved an elbow into her side as they walked. ‘And it’s super good.’ 

‘Didn’t you watch that with Hunk and Keith like, three days ago?’ 

‘Yeah, but it’s like,  _super_  good. Good enough that I want to watch it again.’ 

She shot him an unimpressed look. ‘Seriously?’ 

‘Seriously.’ 

‘Fine. I guess I don’t have anything better to do. You’re paying!’ 

A wide grin stretched across his face. ‘Trust me, when have I ever steered you wrong with movies?’ 

‘I mean-!’ 

‘That was a rhetorical question.’ 

She smothered her giggling behind her hand, fishing her car keys out her back pocket. ‘Alright, let’s go.’ 

They navigated the cinema with practiced ease, Lance buying the tickets and Pidge getting a large popcorn and coke for them to share. They’d been here enough times now, Lance had been here enough times with enough people that he recognised every face of the people who worked there, and finding their screen and seats was something he could do in the dark. Which they had to do on occasion. 

He settled down in his seat and arranged his coat and drink around himself to get comfortable with only a couple minutes to spare before the adverts and trailers started. He snapped his head round to look at his companion, ready to launch into an explanation on anything she needed to know before they got started. 

Lance startled when he discovered that Pidge was already looking at him with a fond smile on her face. ‘Wh-what? Have I got something on my face?’ 

‘Nah,’ she shrugged. ‘I was just…thinking.’ 

His curiosity lit as she turned to look back to the big screen in front of them. ‘About what?’ 

‘You’d get on really well with my brother.’ 

‘You think?’ 

‘Yeah,’ she shrugged, shoulder moving against his. ‘You’re quite similar.’ 

‘Really? He must be pretty damn awesome then.’ 

‘He’s an idiot. I love him though.’ 

‘Hey! I take offense to that.’ 

She laughed and her brown eyes turned back to him with a glint. ‘You should meet him.’ 

‘When?’ 

‘We’re going to be meeting up to work on Shiro’s arm. You can tag along if you want. So long as you don’t talk too much.’ 

‘Me? Talk too much? I would never.’ 

‘I mean it!’ there was a grin on her face. ‘I’ll need to concentrate.’ 

‘Alright, fine. I can do that. You’ll have to text me when you know when it’s happening.’ 

‘I will.’ 

The lights dimmed as the trailers started, the usual excitement sparking a light in his eyes and a thrill through his bones. He leant in close, pleasant warmth beating in his heart as he noticed she copied his action and angled her head to face him more, listening in to what he had to say. 

They didn’t stop whispering until the movie started and someone kicked the back of his chair. 

* * *

They settled on the pool in the end, at Keith’s request. As much as he wanted to check out the rail tracks, he felt like a midnight swim, like he needed to do something else he’d never sleep, and they couldn’t do both. 

Lance was happy to tag along with whatever he decided, only complaining for ten minutes while they watched the staff members leave. Finding the right window again was easy, and he pried it open with a practiced hand. 

His tanned flatmate was quick to cannonball into the water with a shout that echoed through the room. Keith couldn’t stop the laughter bubbling out of him if he tried. 

‘The water’s cold!’ Lance whined as he resurfaced. ‘Keith! Keith the water’s cold!’ 

‘Wow, you’re really selling it to me.’ 

‘ _Keith_.’ 

The dark haired boy tried not to think about it as he ran along the pool edge and flung himself into the water, aiming for a splash that would catch his friend. 

These were his favourite moments with Lance. When it was the two of them, outside of class, doing  _stuff_ together. Hunk would join them, depending on how many rules they were breaking, sweeping them up into group hugs or dazzling them both with his sunshine disposition. 

How he ended up with two flatmates that had such blinding grins was beyond him, but he managed it. It could really make or break his week, and if sneaking them into the swimming pool or doing extra chores around the house when they were flooded with work was how he could repay them, he’d do it. 

They did laps for a decent amount of time, mostly in silence. At a pause where they were both at one end Lance would demand the number he was on, quick to gloat if he was winning or dive under the surface to make up the difference if he was losing. 

Keith was always quick on his heels. 

Once he was out of breath and waiting for his second wind he moved to lie on his back, staring up at the ceiling and watching the patterns of the water decorate the walls of the room. Lance joined him after a couple more laps, always the more confident swimmer and they settled into a rare silence. 

It was what he needed after a tough day of classes and the worlds shortest and busiest shift.

‘I’m glad you’re here.’ 

Keith glanced out the corner of his eye to look at Lance, who was still staring at the ceiling with the world’s tiniest smile on his face. ‘You are?’ 

‘No need to sound so surprised,’ Lance snorted. ‘I know we don’t always get on, but…we’re flatmates, bro.  _Singlemates_.’ 

That drew a bark of laughter from him. ‘Until you get the guts to ask Pidge out.’ 

Lance groaned loudly. ‘You just  _had_ to go and ruin it, didn’t you?’ 

‘Count it as my revenge.’ 

‘Revenge for  _what_?’ 

‘I dunno. I’m sure you’ve done something recently that deserves it.’ 

Lance snorted. ‘Whatever,  _daddy’s boy_.’ 

‘There we go.’ 

Silence fell across the pair. Keith continued to stare at the ceiling, enjoying the way the water reflected luminescent markings that danced across the ceiling. It was calming. Peaceful. A break from the hectic life of their college, work, and classes. 

‘Seriously though,’ he spoke much softer now. ‘Are you gonna ask her out?’ 

‘I don’t know, man,’ Lance sounded too defeated. Not like himself. ‘It’s kinda perfect how it is, isn’t it?’ 

‘I dunno, is it?’ Keith watched as the water danced across the ceiling of the pool. ‘If you like her, perfect would be to be dating her, right?’ 

‘Why do you always have to come in here with your logic and sense?’ 

‘I think it’d be worth the risk.’ 

He heard the splash and felt the waves as Lance moved from lying on his back, standing in the pool next to Keith and hovering over him. His dark brows were pulled together with lines imitating WiFi across his forehead. ‘The risk is she’d stop being our friend.’ 

‘If she was going to stop being our friend because you ask her on a date, I don’t want her to be my friend.’ 

‘Keith! You can’t say that!’ 

‘I can,’ he scowled. ‘I can and I will. If she doesn’t like you back she can tell you and then that’s that and you can move on to greener pastures. If she does like you, then you date. Which I think is what’ll happen.’ 

‘You’re emotionally stunted though.’ 

‘Eat ass, McClain.’ 

‘Stand up.’ 

He narrowed his eyes. ‘Why?’ 

‘I wanna hug you.’ 

‘No,’ Keith floundered in panic and began to back away. ‘I don’t want to hug you. You’re practically naked and that’d be weird.’ 

‘No it won’t be I promise I won’t make it weird.’ 

‘You  _always_ make it weird.’ 

Lance’s grin turned positively lecherous as he wiggled his fingers and stretched out his arms. ‘Come on, Keith! You let Hunk hug you!’ 

‘Hunk is an angel who respects boundaries.’ 

‘Let me be your devil then.’ 

‘ _No_!’ 

He yelped as Lance rushed forward, only just managing to dodge out the way and wade through the water. 

The fight escalated quickly. 

He escaped the clutch of the tanned boy only for so long before the more dexterous of the pair wrapped long noodle arms around his torso. Keith kicked with enough force that they both went down under the waves they were making, spinning round as quickly as he could to get a better handle on the situation. 

Lance was laughing as they resurfaced, hands linked and pushing against each other as Keith tried to put space between them, their cries echoing loud in the large room, bouncing off the walls back at them. 

‘What on  _earth_ is going on in here?!’ 

The pair stopped, their eyes snapping to the entrance of the swimming pool that lead through to the changing rooms, completely frozen in place. Keith could feel Lance tensing up head to tow in his arms, tangled together in their battle. 

Professor Thace glowered down at them from the edge of the pool, raising a finger and pointing towards the exit doors, teeth gritted together as he spoke. Keith’s heart all but stopped. 

‘Reception area.  _Now_.’ 

Keith sprung away from Lance and clambered out the pool, any amusement forced down as Lance floundered, off balance. He shoved all the snacks he got his hands on into his backpack along with his clothes before scooping it into his arms and grabbing the bottled milkshake he left open on the floor. Lance was close behind him as he walked round the edge of the pool, not looking at Thace once. 

The large man brought up the rear, keeping an eye on them both as they headed to the reception area of the building. 

‘One of you explain why I found you in the swimming pool when this building is supposed to be empty?’ 

Keith stepped forward. Leaving Lance to the talking was usually the best solution, but he wouldn’t make the boy improvise to a Professor when they were in trouble. ‘It was my fault, sir. I wanted to practice my swimming, but I don’t like doing it while the pool’s full. Lance is here because I needed help, and I refused to come during the day.’ 

‘I appreciate you taking the blame for yourself and your friend, but unless you pointed a gun to Mr McClain’s head, he had the option to say no. Did Keith point a gun at the back of your head, Lance?’ 

The tanned man glanced between the pair before quickly shaking his head. ‘No, sir.’ 

‘I thought not. I expect to see you both back here tomorrow evening, and we can sort out your punishment.’ 

They exchanged a look, Keith hoping Lance might have some kind of idea on what he wanted. 

‘There’s plenty of jobs that myself and the rest of the faculty have been putting off, I’m sure you won’t mind lending a hand for a few days.’ 

Keith resisted the urge to groan. ‘Of course, sir.’ 

‘That’s what I like to hear. Now get changed and get out, and I don’t want to find you both in here after close again, understood?’ 

The pair stripped down and changed there in the reception as Thace stormed off towards the office behind the reception desk. It took them less than ten minutes before they were out the building and half way to Keith’s bike before Lance was barking out laughter and shaking from the rush. 

‘Shit! I can’t believe that’s it!’ 

‘We’re so lucky.’ 

‘Are you kidding?!’ Lance slapped Keith on the back. ‘If Thace didn’t like you as much as he did I bet that would’ve been  _so_ much worse!’ 

‘I’m just lucky I had him in first year.’ 

‘Christ, let’s a agree to  _not_ tell Hunk or Pidge about this, they’d never let us hear the end of it!’ 

Keith nodded. ‘Agreed. She’d say she told us so.’ 

‘And he’s a blabber mouth who’d tell her.’ 

They finally made it back without bumping into anyone, scrambling for helmets with jittery hands. Keith let out a large breath as the helmet covered his head, some form of comfort. 

‘See? I’m glad I was here with you. Score.’ 

He couldn’t find words to respond with, and simply laughed with a light punch to Lance’s side. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry it's a little later than I was hoping, I write at work during down time and it's been super busy so there hasn't BEEN any down time.


	16. Chapter 16

Lance trailed a couple of steps behind Pidge on their way to her brother’s flat, with a rucksack full of treats and a heart that wouldn’t calm the fuck down. She’d picked him up after agreeing on the date, a wide grin splitting her face in two as she launched into a conversation that showed she had a serious cause of sibling worship. 

He couldn’t fault her. Older siblings could be pretty cool sometimes. 

‘You’re gonna get on, I’m sure of it,’ she insisted as they closed in on the door. ‘Or maybe you’ll be similar in all the wrong ways.’

‘Now’s not the best time to make that observation, Pidge.’

She waved the concern off. ‘We’re here now.’

He sucked in a breath as she knocked on the door, bouncing a little on her toes as she waited. He felt an overwhelming need to impress this mysterious brother, and reminded himself to be on his best behaviour. No sly remarks at Shiro. He needed to be the best friend that Pidge could ever need. 

The thought made him grimace internally. The best  _friend_. 

With a mighty swing the door opened to reveal a man who was the splitting image of Pidge. Or Pidge was the splitting image of him. 

Short sandy hair, round glasses that perched on the bridge of his nose, a light dusting of freckles on the pale skin. You could really tell they were related. The biggest difference was the sheer force of the smile that split across Matt’s face as his eyes roamed across Lance’s face. 

‘Hey Shiro!’ Matt shouted, though he didn’t take his eyes off the man in front of him. ‘Pidgey brought home a boy!’ 

Pidge was on him in seconds, swatting at Matt’s shoulders and arms as she forced her way into the apartment. Lance snorted at the display that seemed oh so familiar before he stepped over the threshold, seeing his Professor emerge from one of the back rooms with a lopsided smile. 

‘Pidge brought home a boy?’ he questioned, before his eyes lay on Lance and his smile widened. ‘Oh so she did. Hey, Lance. How’re you?’ 

‘Pretty good. I brought snacks.’ 

‘Good, I feel like we’ll need them. We’re going to have to band together if we want to survive the next couple hours.’

‘Are they really that bad?’ 

‘Sometimes they speak to each other and I feel like I’m listening to aliens talking another language.’ 

‘So,’ Lance drawled as Pidge finally returned to his side. ‘Pidgey, huh?’ 

‘Pidge,’ she insisted. ‘Matt’s just an asshole.’ 

‘Hi, I’m Matt,’ the taller boy-Pidge greeted. ‘You know Shiro?’ 

‘He’s one of my students,’ Shiro supplied. ‘Fundamental biology.’ 

‘Fancy. Ultimately useless to today’s task.’

‘I brought snacks,’ he repeated as he shook the backpack on his shoulders. 

‘Not entirely useless. Pidge, you ready to work?’ 

‘I was born ready!’ she eyed Shiro’s right arm. ‘Pass it here.’ 

It was a very strange thing to witness. Shiro’s thumb and fingers began popping flaps off the metal arm before twisting and dislodging it from place, leaving his arm as a stub with a metal plate on the end. He passed the arm over and Lance tried not to let any discomfort show on his face as it passed him towards Pidge, who took it easily and eagerly before she disappeared to the four-person dinner table in one corner of the room, laying the arm across the wooden surface. 

Matt quickly joined her with a laptop at his side, setting it up next to her. ‘It’s gonna be amazing, Shiro. You wont regret it.’ 

‘I already regret it.’ 

‘Come on, dude! What’s the worst that can happen?’ 

Pidge positioned herself in front of the laptop, cracking her knuckles before she poised them over the keys. Lance looked to Shiro who gave a reluctant shrug before joining the siblings at the table, Lance close behind. 

‘I need you to keep an open mind,’ Matt pressed as the four were sat round the arm. ‘Some of the things we want to do will be purely aesthetic, but it’ll really help us expand our skills.’ 

‘Fine, I’m listening.’ 

‘So, can we put LEDs in it?’ 

Shiro sighed. ‘Why?’ 

‘Because LEDs are  _cool_ , obviously.’ 

‘Fine. Whatever. Just make them discrete and ensure I can turn them off.’ 

‘You’re gonna be the sickest fuck at the rave.’ 

Pidge clicked away on her laptop. ‘Alright, LEDs. Got it. Anything else?’ 

Matt looked up with wide eyes. ‘Are you  _sure_ about that vibrate function because I know you’ve been sleeping with some bloke even if you’re trying to hide it.’ 

Lance didn’t think he’d ever have the honour of seeing Professor Shirogane go such a horrendously unattractive shade of crimson. He owed Matt massive props for that one. If only Keith had been here to experience it also. 

‘ _Matt_!’ Shiro’s grey eyes flickered around and quite obviously avoided Lance. The Cuban boy smirked. ‘I am positive!’ 

‘Fine, fine. Because we don’t have access to that chip in your brain, it’s all going to be button activated. I’ll be installing a control panel which will let you make the necessary adjustments.’ 

Pidge scoffed. ‘I’m still mad we can’t get at that chip. It would make this whole thing so much easier.’ 

‘I mean it would’ve been easier if we created the chip to have a Bluetooth function but apparently that was “creepy” and “dangerous”.’ 

‘I’ve known you both since we were kids. I do not trust you to not hack a Bluetooth chip in my brain. Especially not one that’s directly connected to my arm.’ 

Lance grimaced. ‘He’s got a point. I wouldn’t trust you either.’ 

Pidge shot him a glare. ‘Quiet, you. I said you were only allowed in if you were going to be quiet.’ 

‘I brought you marshmallows.’ 

She seemed to accept this as suitable payment and backed down. 

‘Also, I agree with you on the vibrate function. I bet the guy he’s sleeping with would appreciate it.’ 

Shiro  _gaped_ at him. 

‘That’s three against one, Shiro. Are you really gonna argue with that?’ 

‘It’s  _my arm_!’ he defended. ‘Peer pressure isn’t going to cut it!’ 

Matt clicked his tongue. ‘One day I’m going to convince you.’ 

‘No, you’re really not.’ 

As the siblings continued to discuss the finer details of the arm, only stopping to request permission from Shiro for particulars, Lance found himself drawn to watching Pidge work. There was a slight crease in her brow as she concentrated, her fingers flying across the keyboard with some speed, taking notes and accounting for materials they did and didn’t have. Matt was all hand gestures and smiles as he created a hyper for their project, getting Pidge on the train quickly. 

‘Marshmallows.’ 

He raised a brow as she shot the word out at him, smirk playing on his lips. ‘What’s the magic word?’ 

‘Now.’ 

Matt tutted. ‘That’s not the magic word, Pidge. I thought I raised you better than that.’ 

Shiro smirked. ‘Don’t disappoint your fathers now.’ 

‘Fine,’ she gave in with a mighty sigh. ‘Marshmallows  _please_.’ 

‘So polite.’ 

‘I’m so proud.’ 

Lance fished them from his bag, tossing them across the table. 

‘Thanks!’ she tore the bag open, setting it up beside her for easy access. ‘I think we have all the info we need. Shall we get started?’ 

‘You start coding,’ Matt agreed. ‘I’ll see what materials we have here. We might need to borrow some of the equipment from the robotics club to get the materials cut to the right shape, but that shouldn’t’ be too much of a big ask.’

‘LEDs will be easy at least,’ Pidge noted. ‘What colour do you like, Shiro?’ 

‘Uh, purple?’ 

‘Got it.’ 

Matt brought the arm close, inspecting each finger. He let out a small squeak as the hand began to wave. 

Lance snorted through his laughter. 

‘Dude!’ 

Shiro chuckled. ‘Sorry, couldn’t help myself.’ 

‘You’re an ass. Right, I’m ready to shop. Pidge?’ 

‘I’m already on it. I can get the LEDs here in a few days, so if we head to the robotics room at the next chance to cut the material…’ 

‘I’ll do that,’ Matt offered. ‘I have a spare day tomorrow. I can get down easily. I’m going to make a file so I can model out the replacement parts.’ 

‘Cool, we should be good to go.’ 

Lance turned to Shiro with a dry tone. ‘They really are aliens, huh?’ 

He gave a grave nod. ‘I’m afraid so.’ 

‘Alright then, normies. You can do us the honours of finding drinks.’ 

Shiro rolled his eyes, standing and flailing the stump in his hand. The hand in Matt’s grasp waved. ‘I’ll need help carrying everything.’ 

‘Careful!’ Matt hissed. ‘You’re gonna hit me.’ 

‘Can’t you, I dunno, turn it off?’ 

There was quiet muttering as the man laid it flat and began to dismantle a panel. Lance moved to catch up with Shiro, who was already half way to where their kitchen was, a small smile playing at the corners of his lips. 

‘Thanks for coming round today,’ Shiro offered as he instructed where Lance could get four glasses. ‘Pidge seemed pretty excited to bring you and show off what she can do.’ 

‘Really?’ he mentally scolded himself for sounding too hopeful. ‘She-uh-she never…’ 

‘She probably tried really hard to make it seem like no big deal.’ 

‘Yeah, she did.’ 

_‘_ She also mentioned that finding a time for us all to meet had been difficult, because you’ve been doing some extra work with Professor Thace…?’ 

Lance shrugged the questioning look he was getting off as best he could. ‘Right, yeah, the-uh-I’ve always been really…into swimming and stuff, so when he asked us to do extra work I figured, why the heck not, ya’know?’

‘Funny that,’ Shiro nodded as he pulled a bottle of pop from the fridge. ‘I overheard Thace telling Coran about how two of his students had been caught in the swimming pool after hours, and he was putting them to work as punishment.’ 

‘Ha,’ Lance gave a nervous stuttering laugh. ‘That’s-ha-that’s pretty…coincidental?’ 

Shiro raised a shaped brow at him. ‘Is it?’ 

‘Please don’t tell Pidge.’ 

‘Your secret’s safe with me. Why didn’t you tell her the truth?’ 

‘She gave me shit for it last time we snuck in, and told us that she didn’t want to hear about any more of our “dumb adventures”,’ Lance scoffed. ‘Because she’s  _boring_  and abides by the rules.’ 

‘She never used to.’ 

Lance snapped his head round. 

‘She could be a little…rebellious when she was in high school,’ Shiro grimaced as he described her. ‘She got picked on, and got in a few fights.’ 

‘Seriously?’ 

He nodded. ‘There was more to that arm than just a scholarship. It was proof that even without a perfect record; she could bring a lot to the college. Something she needed to prove to herself, really.’ 

‘She never really…takes risks.’ 

‘She’s sensitive,’ Shiro assured. ‘Don’t let her diversions fool you.’ 

When they returned to the room the siblings already had the full plan mapped out, stealing the drinks away and Lance’s snack bag raided and emptied all over the table. 

He was quick to dive into the fray, fighting with Matt over the redvines as Shiro settled down at the table and occasionally banged the magnetic fist before any fights could break out. The remainder of the afternoon swapped between Matt telling Lance embarrassing stories of Pidge and Shiro, and Pidge showing off a particularly impressive feat of engineering that her and her brother had accomplished. 

Shiro eventually disappeared to make a phone call, and the kissy faces that Matt sent in his direction had Lance wondering if it was Keith who was calling. 

He turned back to Pidge to catch her looking his way, firing what he hoped was a charming grin in her direction and a conspiring wink. 

She rolled her eyes, but he caught the edges of a smile. 

* * *

It took a whole week for Shiro’s arm to be returned to him. Keith marvelled it as he watched Shiro wander round the kitchen getting a drink for them both while Keith holed himself up on the small three person dining table pressed up against a wall. 

It really did look the part. Very sci-fi. 

‘So it lights up?’ 

Shiro sighed. ‘Unfortunately, yes. They installed this little panel at the back,’ he gestured at the panel tucked away on the upper half of the arm. ‘And it’s got maybe six different buttons. One is to make it light up.’ 

‘That’s pretty cool.’ 

‘I’ll admit it. It’s kinda cool.’ 

Keith snorted, raising his brows. ‘What’s that? You admitting something’s cool?’ 

‘I have my moments.’ 

‘It’s almost like you know how to have fun.’ 

Shiro fired a smirk over his shoulder. ‘Here I was thinking I’d proven that to you already.’ 

Keith had abandoned his flatmates and Pidge as soon as Shiro had sent him a message saying Allura and Matt were out for the evening, disappearing half way through a movie. Despite the catcalls Lance through his way he found it was worth it, if for nothing more than to spend more time with the Professor he’d come to enjoy the company of. 

His phone buzzed angrily in his pocket, drawing his attention down. He fished it out for a message from Pidge as Shiro continued what he was doing. 

_Pop open the panel and press the red button._

Keith frowned at the text but followed it anyway, glancing at the man who was happily sat minding his own business. It was probably poor design work that he could do this without Shiro even noticing, but something told him Pidge planned for that. 

He hoped off the table and flicked open the panel.

 ‘What the  _fuck_?!’ 

Keith flew back at Shiro’s exclamation, unsure whether he should laugh at the rare profanity, or about the fact that his robotic arm was now  _vibrati_ _n_ _g_. 

‘Those little shits!’ Shiro exclaimed. ‘I can’t believe they actually-I’m going to  _murder them_.’ 

‘Oh wow,’ Keith grinned up at the dark haired man. ‘They really upgraded this thing, huh?’ 

The usually composed man’s face lit up a bright red, horror crossing over his features. ‘I am so sorry. I told Matt I didn’t want him to mess about with it. I  _explicitly said_ I didn’t want it to vibrate. How did you find it?’ 

Keith waggled his phone before pocketing it again. ‘Pidge.’ 

‘You tell her I am out for blood.’ 

Keith snorted with laughter. ‘I will. But not before I find out what other things this new arm can do.’ 

Shiro hesitated. 

‘There’s six buttons, right?’ 

‘Not all of them will be…useful. For you.’ 

Keith narrowed his eyes, smirk spreading further as he closed in on the man. ‘Are you embarrassed?’ 

‘Maybe a little.’ 

‘Really?’ 

He spluttered. ‘It’s just-the idea of  _using_ this function for what they actually intended me to use it for, even if it was a joke, is a little weird.’ 

‘I’m sure I can find a way to change your mind.’ 

Keith took a step back and turned to pick up the drinks from the counter top before he headed for the door. ‘Let’s get to your room. Wouldn’t want someone coming home early and finding me in here.’ 

Shiro followed behind him like a lost puppy. 

He never sent Pidge a message to tell her Shiro was out for blood. The most she was going to get from him was  _thank you_. 

* * *

It was the shifting that woke him up at first.

A restless kind of shifting that usually symbolised the other person was awake. He attempted to mumble an acknowledgement that probably came out more as strangled noises before drifting off once again. Whatever it was he was sure it could wait till morning. If it was that important then Shiro would wake him up properly. 

The next thing was a heavy breathing that broke into something akin to a whimper. He stirred and rolled over, finally facing the dark haired man and forcing his eyes open to make sure he was okay. What he saw assured him that Shiro was  _definitely not_ okay. 

He pushed himself onto his elbows and took stock of the situation, an urgency waking him up properly. Shiro’s brows were wrinkled and pulled tightly together, a sweat forming across his pale face, and a twitch that shook his body every so often. Keith took hold of his shoulder, giving a soft shake as he tried to gently wake the man up. 

A shrill alarm from the table made him jump out his skin. He spun round to see the arm, hand balled into a fist, a small light on the elbow crease flashing in time with the beeping. A fresh wave of panic rushed through him and he pushed himself into a proper sitting position, ready to give Shiro a good slap if that’s what it came to, before-! 

The door burst open to a tall woman. Apparently the alarm wasn’t for Shiro. 

‘Shiro!’ the woman in the doorway rushed over and Keith registered that it was Allura. ‘Shiro you need to wa-?!’ 

She stopped what she was doing as her enchanting eyes landed on him. Her mouth formed a thin line, but she managed to keep most of her face neutral to this new development. Keith could feel his heart racing in his chest in panic.  _Coran’s niece_. 

‘Can you wake him up?’ 

The question snapped him out his stupor. ‘Uh, I don’t know.’ 

‘I need you to get me a bowl of cold water and a tea towel from the kitchen,’ she instructed as she flicked the main light on. He grimaced as his eyes adjusted to the shock. He noticed her dishevelled appearance, the silky blue nightgown barely covered by an open fluffy robe. ‘I’ll talk him out of it.’ 

Keith wasted no time, shooting out of bed and hiding any embarrassment he felt about the fact he was stark naked. He grasped hold of the first item of clothing – his jeans – and pulled them on as he was on the way out the door. 

‘Bowl and towel,’ he breathed as he returned to the room moments later. She was knelt on the floor, the arm finally calmed down and Shiro’s eyes open. He put the items next to her and sat down, watching it all unfold. 

‘Wet it for me,’ she spoke softly and held out a hand. He did as she asked and passed it over, receiving a quiet “thank you” before she began wiping down his forehead and shoulders. 

‘Shiro,’ she spoke. Dark eyes flickered to her. ‘Where are you?’ 

‘Our flat,’ his voice was croaking. ‘That I share with you and Matt.’ 

‘Good,’ her tone was full of happiness and praise. ‘And what were you doing last night before bed?’ 

‘I-uh-I was with Keith,’ his stump moved over to where Keith had been lying. ‘Keith?’ 

Allura nodded at him. Keith cleared his throat before he spoke. ‘I’m right here.’ 

‘Keith,’ Shiro sighed a breath of relief. ‘Hey.’ 

‘Hi. How’re you feeling?’ 

A breathless laugh. ‘I’ve been better. I hope you’re okay. I didn’t…I didn’t hurt you did-?!’ 

Allura tsked. ‘Shiro.’ 

‘Sorry.’ 

She nodded to Keith again. ‘Basic questions.’ 

‘Right,’ his mind drew a blank. Why was this so hard? ‘What did we have for dinner yesterday?’ 

‘Carbonara. You brought it from your flat. Hunk made it.’ 

Keith snorted. ‘He’s a good cook.’ 

‘He is,’ Shiro agreed. 

‘And-uh-where do I work?’ 

‘The convenience store in the student union.’ 

‘What’s your favourite colour?’ 

‘Black. Though Allura said it doesn’t count.’ 

‘It doesn’t.’ 

‘Yours is red.’ 

‘How do you know?’ 

A small smile played at the edges of Shiro’s lips. ‘You always have an item of red on you. Always. And your motorbike.’ 

Allura put the towel away and began to stand, wrapping her fingers around Keith’s arm and pulling him up with her. She gestured for him to continue, but moved to prop Shiro into a sitting position. 

‘What did Lance and I get in trouble for last week?’ 

Shiro started to chuckle. ‘You broke into the swimming pools. Though I believe that wasn’t the first time you’ve done that.’ 

‘You’re right. It was the second.’ 

‘You’re lucky you got off so light.’ 

‘We’re lucky they didn’t know about the first time.’ 

Allura held up a hand to stop them. Keith’s mouth snapped shut. 

‘Shiro?’ she prompted. ‘Are you ready?’ 

‘It was nonsensical. Very dreamy.’ 

‘That’s good, at least. The first one in five months. You’re doing incredibly well.’ 

‘Thanks,’ he sighed and his eyes cast downwards as he spoke. ‘I’m sorry, Keith. I should’ve thought-!’ 

‘Stop it,’ she chided. ‘Don’t apologise for things that aren’t your fault.’ 

Keith spoke up. ‘It’s fine, honestly. I’m glad you’re okay. You are okay, right?’ 

‘Yes,’ Shiro confirmed. ‘I am. Thank you.’ 

‘Better,’ Allura nodded happily. ‘I’m going back to bed. If you need anything else, just let me know. I’ll speak to you later.’ 

She gave Keith a once over before she disappeared without another word. He felt bare. Completely exposed. There was something about the way she looked at him that left an uncomfortable sensation in the bottom of his stomach. 

‘Don’t mind her. She’s a little protective.’ 

‘Do you think she recognised me? I think she recognised me.’ 

‘She probably did, yeah.’

Keith groaned before he turned back to Shiro. ‘I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have stayed.’ 

‘It’s alright. I’m glad you did.’ 

It set off a warmth that burned through his system in the most pleasant and dangerous way. 

‘Turn off the light and get back in bed. You have class tomorrow.’ 

‘Do you not want to stay awake?’ 

‘I will for a little bit. Just to clear my head.’ 

There were a million and one questions Keith wanted to ask. Allura looked like she was a practiced hand at this, and the way she talked and questioned him made it sound like it was a regular occurrence. What was it about? Why did it happen? What was he supposed to do if it happened again? 

 ‘I’ll talk to you about it all tomorrow, I promise.’

‘You don’t have to.’ 

‘No, I do. I want to. But right now? I’d rather not.’ 

It was fair. A fair request. Keith nodded and moved to turn the light off before stripping down and slipping back into the bed. Shiro gave a content sigh as he curled round Keith’s smaller frame and began playing with the long black strands of hair. 

Despite the questions buzzing around his brain it didn’t take long for Keith to fall back to sleep. 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I planned on having the end scene with Allura as the beginning of the next chapter, because this chapter was going to have a LOT more Matt in it originally, but it just kinda didn't 
> 
> flow? 
> 
> Like I couldn't an idea in my head for the scenes and I was very aware that I'm posting this later than I like to, so I just kinda didn't. Generally if I feel like a scene isn't going to just flow out my fingers it's not worth having, so I didn't. Which makes the beginning with Lance kind of superficial, but part of what I like about Lance and Pidge's relationship is that there isn't any BIG MOMENTS for them. They just flow. And I can't have writing with big moments for them. It's gotta flow. 
> 
> So I hope that explains that. The end is in sight. Get ready.


	17. Chapter 17

Shiro wasn’t there when he woke up. The arm had gone from the table, and Keith took a wild guess to assume he’d got up and was wandering about already. When he checked his phone he noticed it was only half nine, plenty of time to get ready for class. 

He took his time in pulling on his clothes and getting ready, pocketing his phone and grabbing his backpack as he headed out the door. He pushed it open a fraction, straining his ears to listen for what was going on in the rest of the flat. There were muffled voices. Further away. It meant the coast would be clear to cross through the hallway. 

He continued on his usual stealthy escape until he passed by the kitchen, the voices becoming clear and punctuated with emotion and emphasis. The accent of Allura was distinctive, and Shiro’s low tone ran through him. He heard a third voice in there too. It must’ve been Matt. 

The perfect set up for his escape. All awake and together in one room. It was Allura’s words that caught him off guard. 

‘A student, Matt! I don’t know what you’re not understanding about this!’ 

Keith stopped in his tracks. Were they…? 

‘Oh, let up, Allura. He’s not a  _real_ Professor; he’s not even a real member of staff! He’s doing his doctorate, he’s a student too!’ 

‘That doesn’t make it any better! If anything that makes it worse!’ 

‘How?’ 

‘Because if he wants to impress the people who could potentially offer him a job at the end of it he needs to be at his best right now. If this is his best, then what would his worst be like?’ 

‘Please would you two stop talking about me like I’m not here?’ 

The room fell silent. Keith eyed the door at the end of the hall which would take him outside to freedom. 

‘You both make a very good point, okay? Yes, I should be watching the way I conduct myself on a profession basis, but I met Keith before I started teaching him. You know this. You were the one who encouraged me to talk to him.’ 

There was an indignant noise. ‘Do not pin this on me, Shiro.’ 

‘I didn’t mean to sound like I was.’ 

The unfamiliar voice spoke up again. ‘It’s not like he’s seeing this guy because he’s a student. He just happens to be a student.’ 

‘I think you should talk to Coran about all this. Just so you don’t end up unknowingly breaking any rules.’ 

‘Yeah, that’s what he wants to do. Have a long, drawn out conversation with your Uncle about his sex life.’ 

‘I am simply trying to help, Matt!’ 

Keith squeezed his eyes shut and forced himself to move. He spun on his heel and went back to where the voices were coming from, not giving himself time to think in case he backed out as he grasped the door handle and threw the door open with a little more force than necessary. 

He was met with three stunned faces. Allura’s dark skin quickly changed shade with a flush of embarrassment as she turned back to the countertop which held three mugs waiting with bags in by the kettle. Shiro’s body was tense and he stood by the small dining table tucked in the corner, mused hair and mismatched clothes. The final person in the room was who caught him off guard the most. 

Keith knew that Matt was related to Pidge, but he wasn’t expecting them to look  _so similar_. 

‘Hey,’ he croaked out, feeling like maybe he  _should_ have given himself time to back out of this. ‘I’m heading off.’ 

‘I’ll see you out,’ Shiro spoke, moving forward to meet him at the door. 

The pair left the room and Keith could already hear Matt’s excitable whisperings of  _is that the guy_ as the door swung closed. They walked to the front door and Shiro stopped as Keith fumbled with the lock. 

‘Keith, I’m sorry.’ 

‘About what?’ 

‘Last night,’ Shiro ran a hand through his already messy hair. ‘I put you in a difficult position.’ 

Keith gave up on opening the door and turned his attention to the man fully. ‘Don’t apologise. Shit happens sometimes. I just…hope I was helpful.’ 

‘You were. I’m very thankful.’ 

‘Cool.’ 

‘I’m also sorry for…Allura.’ 

Keith’s good natured smile turned into something more similar to a grimace. ‘It’s alright. You’re pretty close. Of course she’s going to worry about you.’ 

‘I wish she wasn’t such a mother sometimes.’ 

The kitchen door opened again. A cloud of white hair appeared with a frown on the perfectly made-up face as Allura whispered and pushed at the person behind her. She stepped into the hallway fully and cleared her throat before she spoke, her brilliant eyes finally locking with Keith’s. 

‘I wanted to say thank you for last night, Keith.’ 

He stared. He looked at Shiro. Shiro looked just as baffled. 

‘I really do appreciate it. Having you there was helpful. The nightmares happen so few and far between now that sometimes I feel like I might forget what to do when they do happen.’ 

Keith was brought back round with the sobering reality that he still had no idea what had happened the night before. ‘No problem. Happy to help. Thanks for, uh, stopping me from freaking out.’ 

She chuckled. ‘It’s quite alright. Perhaps I can show you the best way to handle them in case it happens again and I am not about to lend a hand.’ 

‘We haven’t actually talked about them.’ 

Her eyes snapped to Shiro and her eyebrows flew up. ‘You haven’t?’ 

‘No. There are a couple of things I’ve not told Keith yet. About the nightmares and what you do for me.’ 

‘Shiro…’ 

‘I know, I will. I promise.’ 

‘Make sure you do,’ she scolded before painting a smile back on her face and turning to Keith. ‘I hope you enjoy the rest of your day.’ 

‘Thanks. You too.’ 

She scuttled back into the kitchen. The air around him felt even heavier than before with Shiro having admitted that he wasn’t talking about something. Something that Allura thought they should’ve already spoken about. Something to do with that arm. 

‘We can meet up again soon. Outside of class.’ 

Keith nodded. ‘Yeah. That’d be good.’ 

‘Have fun at class.’ 

‘I’ll try.’ 

Shiro ran a hand through the dark hair on the back of his head. ‘I-thanks again, Keith.’ 

‘Sure,’ he cleared his throat. ‘See you around.’ 

With the click of the closed door he had his phone out and in his hand, searching for a number that he didn’t even realise he was turning to before it was dialling. 

* * *

‘You’re utterly ridiculous,’ Pidge informed as she looked up at Rover in the skies. ‘I cannot believe you’re making me do this.’ 

‘Okay, no, you don’t understand,’ Lance pointed up at the roof they were aiming for. ‘So in our first year Keith and I used to have these competition things-!’ 

‘ _Used_ to?’ 

‘Shut. Anyway, so these competition things, and one of them was like a throwing thing, and he ended up throwing this girl’s dildo onto the roof and I need to know if it’s still there.’ 

‘It’s been a year, Lance. Chances are it’s not there. Weather’s a thing, and dildos tend to be cylindrical.’ 

‘Yeah but I need to  _know_ , Pidge. You’re meant to be  _smart_ , what are you not getting about this?’ 

She rolled her eyes- _again_ -and continued to fly Rover up high. They turned down to the camera as he disappeared from view, watching as she guided the drone across the roof in search of the mystery dildo. ‘So what did it look like?’ 

‘The inside of a woman’s vagina.’ 

‘ _Lance_.’ 

‘Sorry, I’ve just-I’ve been waiting a while to use that one. It looked like, uh, it was pink I think? It wasn’t like, fancy, like some of them. It was pretty cheap. But expensive enough that she was pretty pissed off at Keith for like a month.’ 

‘I’d be pretty pissed off at Keith about it too.’ 

He ignored the question that sprung to mind of whether or not she actually owned one to be able to come to that conclusion. It didn’t really  _matter_ ; it was probably more the concept of having something of your own thrown onto a tall building by some asshole in a leather jacket. 

‘I-I think I’ve found it.’ 

He crowded round her, throwing an arm around her shoulder and getting in close to see the screen on her phone. ‘Holy shit.’ 

‘Is that it?’ 

‘Dude,’ he reached for his phone. ‘I gotta take a picture of this and send it to Keith he’s not gonna believe-?’ 

It was as if he’d been summoned. As soon as the phone was out his pocket it began to vibrate, and when Lance brought it up he saw Keith’s contact flashing across the screen. He pulled away from Pidge and took a couple of steps back, ignoring the questioning gaze she shot him as he answered the phone to his flatmate. 

‘Hey, man. What’s up?’ 

_‘Are you-?’_ Keith stopped to huff out on the other end.  _‘Are you free right now?’_

‘Uh…’ he glanced over his shoulder at the girl still flying the drone. ‘Why?’ 

_‘I just-it’s fine, if you’re not. I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have-!’_

‘Keith,’ Lance cut the other man off, brows pulling together. ‘Are you okay?’ 

_‘I don’t know. Maybe?’_

‘Maybe?’ panic settled in his chest. ‘You’re not, like, injured or anything, are you?’ 

_‘No! No, I’m not, I’m-I just left Shiro’s and-I don’t know. I’m gonna go home or something. Maybe get some food.’_

Pidge looked over at him, waiting to hear his response to a conversation she wasn’t privy to. 

‘I can meet you, if you want? We have class today.’ 

_‘Shit.’_

‘We don’t have to go.’ 

_‘No, I can’t-I’m not going to skip it.’_

He dropped his voice lower and hunched his shoulders as if trying to shield the conversation from his companion. ‘So it’s something to do with Shiro?’ 

_‘Yeah, I guess.’_

‘Say no more! I’ll come home straight away.’ 

_‘I can pick you up?’_

‘I’m at Pidge’s. That alright?’ 

_‘Shit, Lance, I-!’_

‘Nope!’ he popped the P loudly. ‘No apologies! You have nothing to be sorry about! I will not hear it!’ 

Keith was quiet for enough time that Lance had to check the call was still going before he responded.  _‘Thanks, dude. I’ll be there in like, fifteen or something.’_

‘Cool. See you soon.’ 

The click signalled the end of the call. He turned to face Pidge, who was looking down at the camera showing Rover roaming the roof instead of where he was trying to listen in to the conversation. Not that he didn’t think she hadn’t heard. 

‘I’m gonna have to head off early,’ he explained. ‘Keith’s in need of the Lancemaster.’ 

‘Sure,’ she shrugged it off like no big deal. ‘You can tell him about how we found his dildo. We could even try make a crane feature for Rover to try retrieve it.’ 

‘That’d be sweet. The perfect birthday gift.’ 

She looked back down to the camera, creases forming on her forehead as she thought about her words. ‘You know, if you need me to, I can install a Taser too and go hit up Shiro’s flat. He’d never expect it.’ 

Lance snorted. ‘I’ll get back to you on that when I find out why he’s upset. It might be nothing.’ 

‘Maybe. I should keep my nose out of it, I’m sorry.’ 

He bit down on his lip and tried to figure out how to reassure her. He wasn’t about to tell her anything, or promise to tell her anything that wasn’t his to say. If Keith was coming to him he was going to take the rare occurrence and do his best not to fuck it up. 

He smiled as wide as he could and landed a solid pat on her back. ‘Don’t worry your pretty little head, I’ll sort it out. Probably just a lover’s tiff. It was bound to happen sooner or later.’ 

‘I know Shiro’s like a brother to me,’ she said. ‘But Keith’s one of my closest friends-if that’s not, like, too presumptuous to say.’ 

‘I don’t think it is.’ 

‘Good. I want them both to be happy. But if one of them hurts the other I’ll punch him.’ 

‘With what muscle?’ 

She smirked and landed a punch in his shoulder. He flinched away from the force. 

‘Point taken.’ 

‘Let’s put Rover back. Keith’ll be here soon.’ 

‘You got it!’ 

It didn’t take long before he was standing outside on his own waiting for the red motorbike to arrive. Keith pulled up with a helmet held out in offering, face covered by his own visor. Lance wasted no time in securing it on his head and hopping on behind Keith. He glanced up to where he knew Pidge’s window was, giving a wave he hoped wasn’t  _too_ enthusiastic, and grinning despite himself when she returned it. 

Keith drove fast. As he always did when he had a location in mind. 

He pulled up outside one of the small cafes that did breakfast, parking and removing his helmet before they dismounted the bike. The café was familiar, and Lance could see the way the tension seemed to leave Keith’s body as soon as they were sat in a plastic-y booth with orders in, waiting on food for the morning. 

‘So, what happened?’ Lance asked as soon as the waiter had left them to their own devices. 

Keith ducked his head down before he began to speak. ‘Allura caught us.’ 

_Shit_. 

‘She-he had a nightmare, or something, and she deals with them? I don’t know, he didn’t really tell me the details, but she caught me there.’ 

He hated to think it, and he definitely wasn’t going to say it, but Lance couldn’t say he was overly surprised. 

‘I heard them in the kitchen this morning arguing about it. About how he’s going to get in trouble.’ 

‘That’s ridiculous,’ Lance defended. ‘He’s not even a real Professor.’ 

‘No, but she said…’ he waved at the air to recollect the words used. ‘Something about how it could lead to a job, so he had to be on his best behaviour or something.’ 

He couldn’t argue with that. He didn’t know how to argue with that. 

‘It makes sense, I guess…’ 

‘But still,’ Lance persisted. ‘There must be…something?’ 

‘It’s not like there was anything actually going on,’ Keith confessed. ‘We were just…screwing around.’ 

‘If that was true, you wouldn’t be here about to shovel a shit load of greasy food in your face telling me how it sucks.’ 

Keith glared. ‘It does suck. It was fun. Or…whatever.’ 

‘You caught feelings and you don’t know what to do, you mean?’ 

He huffed out and looked away. But he didn’t say anything. 

‘You sure you don’t wanna skip class?’ 

‘I don’t want him to think there’s something wrong.’ 

‘He’ll try talk to you, like the first time. You  _know_ he will.’ 

‘I know,’ Keith agreed. ‘But I probably should. Talk to him.’ 

‘How mature of you, Kogane,’ Lance drawled with a grin. ‘Maybe fucking an adult has helped blossom you into one yourself.’ 

The dark haired boy gave a weary smile. ‘Very funny, Lance.’ 

‘I thought so. We’re gonna eat, and talk shit, and then later if you need me I’ll be there to throw a couple o’ punches. Or, well, stop you throwing them, probably.’ 

‘Probably.’ 

Their food arrived, the scent of butter and pork overwhelming him and setting his stomach into a fit of hunger. 

‘Hey, Lance?’ 

‘Yeah buddy?’ 

‘Thanks.’ 

Lance grinned wide. ‘No problem.’ 

‘Sorry for dragging you away from Pidge.’ 

‘Oh my goodness,’ he mimed an explosion against his temples. ‘You have no idea what we found on the roof…’ 

Their breakfast passed with ease, Keith soon loosing the tension in his shoulders and back to laughing along with Lance’s dumb stories and jokes. He drove them to their class shortly after, giving a grateful smile as Lance patted him on the back with as much support as he could. 

The brunette would be lying if he didn’t say he bristled when he caught sight of the student Professor, and the action alone was enough to alert Keith to the presence of the student lecturer. But then they were in class, and there was no time for Shiro to corner him, and as soon as it ended Keith turned to him with a hard look on his face and pleading eyes. 

‘I changed my mind. I probably should talk to him, but that doesn’t mean I’m  _going_ to.’ 

Lance grinned wide and the pair bolted from the room before Shiro had a chance to call out to Keith. 

Instead the dark haired boy got a text while they were helping clean the floors of the sports halls, pulling his phone out and biting down a little too hard on his lip when he saw what it was. Lance tried not to be  _too_ obvious as he watched his friend across the room, but subtly wasn’t always his strong suit. 

‘He’s offered to go out. To the bar where we usually meet.’ 

Lance licked his lips, trying to think of the best way to approach it. ‘Are you going to?’ 

‘Should I?’ 

‘You don’t need me to tell you that.’ 

Keith agreed to the meeting and they finished up their work, thanking Professor Thace as they passed him on the way out. Lance offered to be there, just in the background waiting if he needed him, but Keith promised to handle it on his own. 

It left Lance with Hunk for the evening, pleased to have his big bear of a friend for company, along with stacks of pancakes and good movies. 

* * *

Keith really didn’t want to be there. Summoning the ability to smile took all the energy he had, and he wasn’t sure he’d be able to keep it up for a whole night. Being caught –  _actually_ caught – had left this entire thing feeling a whole lot more real than it had before. 

He shuffled into the seat opposite Shiro, thankful that the man had already got him a drink, and immediately downed half of it. 

‘Yeah, I get that feeling.’ 

‘Sorry,’ Keith spluttered as his glass hit the table again. ‘I just-long day.’ 

Shiro let out a puff of air. 

Keith stared down into the black liquid in front of him. 

‘I’m sorry about Allura,’ Shiro started. ‘I…it’s been a long time since I had a nightmare like that. I guess I kind of got used to not having them.’ 

‘What was it?’ 

Shiro grimaced. ‘It’s part of the post traumatic stress. Allura’s a good friend, and also training in medicine, so she’s incredibly helpful to have around. We met at uni, and it wasn’t until she appointed herself as my guardian that we got as close as we are. She’s quite…protective.’ 

‘I see. Is it…because of the arm?’ 

Shiro flexed the fingers of the metallic arm in reflex to the question. ‘Yeah.’ 

Keith accepted that, not wanting to pry into things that he had no business knowing. Shiro brought his arm to his chest, folding them across each other and leaning his elbows against the table. The pair sat in silence as they continued to drink their drinks, never quite making eye contact. 

‘I hope she didn’t chew you out too much after I left.’ 

‘Not really,’ Shiro shrugged it off. ‘There was the usual lecture about responsibility, but Matt’s pretty good at calming her down.’ 

‘Glad to hear it.’ 

‘She had a lot of questions that I found I just…couldn’t answer, though.’ 

‘Like what?’ 

‘What  _are_ we?’ 

He stopped short. It was a question that he’d considered, of course, and come to the conclusion of… ‘I figured we’re friends.’ 

‘Friends?’ 

‘Yeah. Friends,’ Keith confirmed. ‘I respect you, a lot. And…I really enjoy your company.’

‘And the sex?’ 

He flushed at the straight forward question. ‘Is great?’ 

Shiro chuckled. ‘I won’t deny that. Do you sleep with anyone else?’ 

‘Not…exactly.’ 

He raised a brow. 

‘I would, if someone caught my interest,’ he was grasping at straws. ‘I just…I’m picky.’ 

‘I see.’ 

Was that the right answer? 

‘I hope Allura hasn’t put you off being my friend.’ 

‘She’d have to try harder than that.’ 

A warm smile that made Keith’s heart stutter. 

‘What about you? Do you…?’ 

He didn’t want to say it. 

Shiro shook his head with a dry laugh. ‘I don’t have time. What we have…it kinda works perfectly for me. You’re just…’ 

‘A student.’ 

‘Yeah.’ 

Keith took another long gulp of his drink. 

‘I hope we can continue to be friends, Keith,’ Shiro said, standing and grabbing the jacket he’d draped over the seat of the stool. ‘Maybe one day I’ll tell you the full story of this hunk o’ junk on my stump.’ 

Keith nodded, forcing himself to smile back. ‘I’d like that.’ 

When Shiro left, he left a drink that hadn’t quite been finished, and a conversation that Keith felt hadn’t included everything he wanted to say. He downed the rest of his glass and pushed it to one side, running a hand through his thick black hair and cursing under his breath at the whole situation. 

It was stupid. Frustrating. Why couldn’t things just be  _simple_ and  _normal_. Why did he have to leave that damn note on the first morning? 

‘Hey.’ 

His head snapped up at the familiar voice, jaw falling slack as he came face to face with a wispy silver hair and a stubbled chin. The man slid a glass across the table to him and when he leant forward to sniff it, he realised it was his favourite brand of rum mixed with diet coke. 

‘I’m guessing you still like the dark stuff, at least.’ 

‘Yeah,’ he croaked out. ‘I do.’ 

‘Mind if I sit?’ 

‘Go ahead.’ 

Rolo sat down on the recently vacated stool, the same lazy movements he’d always had. ‘I hope I’m not stepping over any boundaries, but…you seemed a little down after that guy left.’ 

He had a million and one things to say. About how down Lance had looked after Nyma tied him up and left him, taking his heart and wallet with her. But he resisted. Instead he took the drink and drowned the words in that instead. 

‘Wanna get out of here?’ 

‘God yes.’ 

It had been months since he and Rolo had spoken, never mind spent prolonged periods of time together. They found a local store and bought a bottle of vodka, wrapped it in a bag and found a quiet park to sit in while they drank it straight from the bottle. They had stilted conversation, fading out into periods of comfortable silence and occasional minor observations that only a stoner would make. 

He offered Rolo to crash in his room as the man walked him back, and they stumbled through the house at the early hours of the morning, careful not to wake Hunk and Lance who were cuddled up together on the couch. 

Rolo told him how he was pleased to see how healthy Lance looked. How glad he was that the man was back to being his usual, boisterous self. How he hoped soon Keith would be back to his usual, boisterous self. 

They squeezed onto the bed and Keith passed out as soon as his head hit the pillow, feeling like he’d lost something. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm sorry it took a while Christmas/New Year was hectic for me. 
> 
> We should be back to normal updating schedule now.
> 
> Don't quote me on that.


	18. Chapter 18

When morning clarity hit them both, there was a wordless exchange of concern that passed between the two men. Rolo puffed out a heavy sigh and Keith ran his hands through his greasy hair a couple dozen times as they both tried to work it out in their heads. 

It was still early, early enough that he could hopefully get Rolo out the house before his flatmates woke up. He offered the man a coffee out of sheer politeness and guilt, not wanting to be seeming to get him out like a dirty secret. 

Rolo gave a wry smile that said he knew better. ‘Maybe a glass of water, if that’s alright. I ought to shoot off.’ 

Keith nodded and the pair left the room, heading straight for the kitchen in the silent house. Early enough no one was active. 

‘Thanks for yesterday,’ Keith’s voice croaked as they stood by the sink, a glass of water in his own hands. ‘It means a lot.’ 

‘Don’t worry about it, man,’ Rolo waved the concern off. ‘It’s no biggie. I hope you’re feeling better?’ 

‘I am. I will be.’ 

‘Take your time about it.’ 

Rolo put his glass in the sink once he was done, and Keith didn’t know if it was a blessing or not that the man had his back turned to the archway the led to the living room when it happened. 

His eyes locked with deep brown ones that stared at him with an intensity he thought might have him break down and cry there and then. Rolo must’ve been able to tell from his face that something was wrong, because he turned round with his hands half raised as though ready for surrender. 

Hunk’s nose twitched as Rolo finally turned to face him. 

‘Hey,’ Rolo spoke first. ‘Just on my way out. Thanks for the drink, Keith.’ 

‘Right,’ Keith nodded sharply. ‘No problem.’ 

‘Have a good day.’ 

Hunk took a step to the side as Rolo approached him and let the fair haired man leave, taking his time getting to the front door as though a sudden movement would enrage the bull. Keith waited to hear the front door before anything was said, and even when he heard it and opened his mouth to speak all that came out was hot air as he struggled to find words. 

His throat was dry. He was caught out. 

Why did either of them think this was a good idea? 

‘Do you want to explain to me what’s going on?’ 

Keith looked down at the table, unable to look his flatmate in the face. He felt like a dam had broken and was flooding his insides with red hot shame. 

‘Because that is not what I was expecting to wake up to this morning.’ 

‘I’m sorry,’ his voice was coarse even to his own ears. ‘I didn’t mean for you to bump into each other.’ 

‘Oh, so it’s alright if I never find out about it, who cares? It’s not like I’ve got a valid reason to not trust the guy!’ 

‘Hunk-!’ 

‘Don’t look at me with that tone of voice. I hate your sad voice. It’s like a weapon.’ 

Keith bit his tongue. ‘He just crashed in my room the night. We were drinking yesterday.’ 

‘You brought  _Rolo_ to our house?!’ Hunk huffed out. ‘You didn’t think to go there instead if you were so bent on spending the night with him?!’ 

‘Hunk, please. It’s not like that.’ 

‘Don’t “it’s not like that” me, mister. I ain’t buying it.’ 11111111

‘What’s going on here?’ 

The pair turned to see the final roomie enter the kitchen, hanging on the doorframe as he searched for answers. Hunk happily gave them. ‘Did you know that Rolo slept over last night?’ 

Lance’s face dropped. Keith felt like he’d been kicked in the stomach. 

‘In  _Keith’s room_?’ 

‘What?’ 

Keith sprang to his feet. ‘I’m sorry, really, nothing  _happened_ , it was a mistake and a bad decision and it should’ve never happened.’ 

Lance held up a hand to stop him. ‘It’s fine. Whatever, man. It was ages ago.’ 

Keith looked at Hunk, who looked equally as confused. 

‘I mean I’m not gonna lie it stings a little bit, but I can’t…I know you and Rolo used to hang out. I always felt kinda…guilty for being the reason you stopped.’ 

‘No, the reason they stopped hanging out was because Nyma was a bitch and Rolo took her side.’ 

Keith nodded in agreement. ‘It wasn’t your fault, Lance. Don’t blame yourself for that.’ 

‘If it wasn’t for me and Nyma, you probably would’ve continued to hang out though, right?’ Lance shrugged it off. ‘It’s probably about time I let it go.’ 

The room fell into silence. Like they were stunned by Lance’s confession, who was still hovering in the doorway swinging against the frame. Keith stood in place not daring to move a muscle. Waiting for someone else to make the first move. 

‘You guys are keeping something from me.’ 

They looked at the larger man, brown eyes narrowed and stocky arms folded across his chest. 

‘I can feel it. What’s going on?’ 

Lance looked at him. Keith’s eyes widened. Lance stepped forward to speak and Keith jumped at the chance to say something before he did. 

They blurted it out at the same time. 

‘Lance has a crush on Pidge!’ 

‘Keith’s sleeping with our Professor!’ 

Hunk blinked once. Twice. He shook his head rapidly before pressing his palms together and holding them to his lips, closing his eyes in a silent prayer. 

‘Okay, what the  _fuck_ did you just say Lance?’ 

The Cuban radiated victory. ‘Keith’s sleeping with Professor Shirogane. You know Shiro. Pidge’s Shiro. The one who was round a little while ago to help Keith with his assignments.’ 

That filthy traitor. 

‘I’m sure a lot of work got done that day, huh,  _Keith_?’ 

He glared daggers across the room. ‘Bite me, asshole.’ 

‘I’ll leave that to your dad-!’ 

‘Alright stop there I don’t need to hear the rest of the sentence.’ 

Smug little shitmunch. 

‘Keith,’ Hunk turned to him. ‘I mean, I already knew that Lance had a crush on Pidge. Everyone with eyes can see that. But Professor Shirogane? Seriously? He’s so nice. I gave him brownies. He’s such a  _gentleman_.’ 

Keith flushed. He wasn’t sure where this was going. 

‘How could you cheat on him by sleeping with a scumbag like Rolo?’ 

‘I-?!’ his throat ran dry at the accusation. ‘I haven’t cheated on anyone! I didn’t even sleep with Rolo! And we’re not dating! It’s just-?!’ 

‘Casual sex?’ 

‘Shut up, Lance. I didn’t ask for your input.’ 

‘Why haven’t you guys talked to me about this?’ 

The question caught them both off-guard. 

Hunk looked ready to cry. ‘Wait, have I been doing the tunnel vision thing again? Is that what this is? Have I missed all this because I haven’t been paying attention or-?!’ 

‘No!’ Keith spoke as Lance rushed forward to wrap his arms around the big fella. ‘You haven’t been. I promise.’ 

‘We just…we didn’t want to get you down with all our drama,’ Lance explained. ‘You’re so  _happy_ , and you’ve got your little honeymoon period with Shay, and we didn’t want to come barrelling in with this shit. We can deal with it between us.’ 

‘If you could deal with it between you, I wouldn’t have woken up to Rolo in my kitchen this morning.’ 

It was a fair point. He got them there. 

Keith shrugged, feeling a bit like a broken record. ‘I’m sorry. I didn’t want to upset you.’ 

‘You guys…’ Hunk’s voice started to tremble and he reached out to pull Keith in, wrapping an arm round each of them. ‘Helping you with your shit isn’t going to upset me. I like helping you. You’re like, my  _best friends_. It makes me so happy when you come to me with things because I know you trust me. Even when I can’t do much, at least I know I can be a listening ear.’ 

Wow he felt like a douchebag. 

‘Why don’t I make us some hot chocolate or something and we can all sit down and you can fill me in on whatever it is I’ve been missing, huh?’ 

‘Yeah. That sounds pretty good.’ 

Lance grinned wide at the man. ‘Can I have marshmallows in mine?’ 

He sat down with his two flatmates and three mugs of hot chocolate before he began to fill Hunk in one a brief of what had happened, Lance there to give the details and embellishments where he thought were necessary. Which appeared to be everywhere. 

He got to the conversation with Shiro the night before, hesitating for a moment before he powered through. He explained how Rolo had approached him and offered him drinks, before the pair wound up taking a walk around that led to their flat. He mentioned how Rolo crashed due to the later hour, emphasised that it was innocent. 

That Rolo probably knew what a breakup of sorts looked like and stayed away from the wound while it was fresh. 

No one wanted to expand on that can of worms. 

‘I’m sorry it didn’t go the way you wanted it to,’ Hunk muttered as he reached round and pulled Keith into a one armed hug. ‘Though it kinda sounds like it was left unfinished.’ 

‘I guess,’ Keith shrugged it off. ‘It was never actually…started.’ 

‘Maybe you should start it then.’ 

The two looked over to Lance who was sat on Keith’s usual chair, and Keith felt a little nauseous at the suggestion. ‘I-I don’t think that’s…’ 

‘At the very least you should start a proper friendship,’ Hunk offered. ‘If that’s what you want.’ 

‘Yeah,’ Keith nodded slowly. ‘It is.’ 

‘And  _you_!’ 

Lance jumped out his skin as Hunk turned on him. 

‘We have been friends for a long time, Lance. And I know that sometimes what you need is a little tough love!’ 

The tanned boy grimaced. ‘Do I have to? I thought we were talking about Keith. I don’t mind not talking about me this time. I promise.’ 

‘Ask Pidge out on a date. I’m serious, man.’ 

‘But I don’t  _wanna_.’ 

‘Yes, you do. You need to just suck it up and go for it. If she says no, then she says no, and that’s fine, but if you don’t you’re gonna be dancing circles round her for as long as you know her.’ 

He pouted in his chair like a petulant child. 

‘Is there anything else you two have been keeping from me?’ 

Neither said anything, exchanging a quick look. There was nothing else that Keith could think of from here for either of them. Though he couldn’t really speak on Lance’s part. 

‘Well, I think we need a good, hearty breakfast to start off our day. Just the three of us.’ 

Lance and Keith grinned wide at the suggestion and jumped to their feet to help their friend make something for them all. 

* * *

Hunk’s words played on Lance’s mind all morning. Keith had already been poking and prodding him, and his final flatmate had hammered the final nail into the coffin on the whole shebang. He thought about what he would say, how he would say it, what he would do if she said  _no_. 

Pidge was smart. Wickedly smart. Smart and talented, and not his usual type. She wasn’t feminine or giggly or wild and free. She was studious and cared little for how her hair was styled. She liked to go to movies with him and when they were watching comedies her laugh came in all shapes and sizes, from hushed chuckling to an ugly snort to full blow cackling. 

But it was fresh, and new, and so very Pidge that he thought it was perfect. 

He let his head slam to the desk in front of him, phone clutched in his hand. He couldn’t text, it wasn’t classy, and he didn’t want to come across as a coward. But he knew he wouldn’t be able to act like he normally did if he didn’t say anything when she popped round to their flat next, and there was  _no way_ he was asking while Keith or Hunk were present. 

It was driving him crazy. 

Then his lecturer gave him the perfect opening. A research project which would involve specifically visiting the aquarium so they could pick out a creature to work with and proceed to conduct research and speak to staff at the aquarium. 

He still didn’t want to explicitly say it over text. To actually acknowledge that it was a date. And sure, maybe it was cheating a little bit, but… 

_U_ _wanna_ _come to the aquarium to do a dumb_ _uni_ _thing w me_

He could see how it went, try to actively flirt with her maybe instead of just the weird back and forth they had, before asking her on a real date at the end. That wasn’t cowardly, right? 

‘Hey, Lance!’ chimed a nasally voice with a hint of an exotic accent. ‘I was wondering if I could talk to you for a minute?’ 

He looked up from his phone, firing the text to Pidge. A wide smile split across his face as he saw the attractive roommate of the girl he was just messaging running over to him. ‘Hey, Plax. What’s up?’ 

She came to a halt, slightly out of breath with wide baby blues and her pigtails bouncing on her shoulders. ‘That was a pretty good lecture, huh?’ 

‘I do like being ordered to go to aquariums as work for class. It’s my favourite homework. And hey, student discount, am I right?’ 

A flush decorated her pale cheeks. ‘About that, I was wondering if maybe you wanted to go? Together-with me I mean-to the aquarium,’ she waved her hands about as she floundered. ‘I figured it might be more fun than doing it on my own. Not that I would do it on my own. I have friends.’ 

He raised a brow. Didn’t Pidge mention something about her being a lesbian? 

‘But anyway, would you like to? Go to the aquarium with me, that is? Like a date?’ 

His phone buzzed in his hands. They both looked down. The message flashed across the top of his screen. 

_Sure, when?_

‘Sorry, Plax. I kinda already have someone to go with,’ he waved the phone about as if it explained anything. ‘Ten seconds too late I guess.’ 

‘Oh! Oh, okay, that’s fine.’ 

‘You’re welcome to come with us, if you want?’ he flinched at the words that came out, but feeling awful about the disappointed look on her face. ‘For the company and stuff.’ 

She blew a raspberry and shook her head. Trying to play it off. He could see the tenseness in her shoulders and the ridged movements she made. ‘It’s cool don’t worry about it, I’ll probably go with Swirn or something. Thanks for the offer though.’ 

‘Sure, no problem. I’ll catch you later, yeah?’ 

‘Absolutely. See you, Lance!’ 

And with that she vanished, disappearing off into the swarm of students around them. He bit on his lip and turned in the opposite direction she’d gone in hoping to avoid bumping in to her and giving her a bit of breathing space before they saw each other again. He didn’t want her to become awkward and uncomfortable around him from distance, but he knew as good as anyone how you needed a bit of recovery time after a rejection. 

So much for “my roommate is a lesbian”, thanks Pidge. He’d remember that one. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know it's shorter than I intended for it to be, but I didn't wanna fill it with shit just for padding so I left it the way it was. 
> 
> Three chapters left!!


	19. Chapter 19

There was nothing to be scared about. It was just Pidge. Just Lance and Pidge hanging out, like they had done a million times before. Lance and Pidge, hanging out at the aquarium, where he’d start to maybe make a move on her. 

Just him and Pidge. Pidge and him. 

‘I’m freaking out.’

Keith raised a brow from his place on the couch. ‘Really? I didn’t notice.’

‘I don’t need your  _sass_ , Keith.’

‘Why are you freaking out?’

‘Because it’s a  _almost date_! With Pidge!’

‘You’ve had almost-dates with Pidge before. You have them on a weekly basis.’

‘Movie night is not the same thing.’

Keith shrugged. 

‘You’re so  _unhelpful_.’

If he was honest Keith found the whole thing pretty entertaining. Lance had been pacing throughout the house all morning, going from his bedroom to the bathroom and back a million times. He understood why the boy was nervous of course, but that didn’t stop him from finding it oddly endearing in a funny kind of way. 

Hunk appeared from the kitchen with a tired look on his face. ‘Lance, you gotta calm down, dude.’ 

‘I am calm!’ 

‘You’re really not.’ 

There was a buzz from the table and the trio stopped, looking over at the black mobile sat innocently. Keith reached over and grasped it, opening the message and trying not to openly wince. 

_Sure, I can meet you at the coffee shop in the library?_

When he looked up again Lance had finally stopped pacing and was instead looking at him with wide bug eyes and an expectant expression. Hunk was at least attempting to hide his curiosity a bit by busying himself with drying the same plate he’d been drying since he entered the room. 

Keith rolled his eyes and stood, moving to their front door so he could toe on his shoes. ‘I’ll be back later. I’m going to meet Shiro.’ 

‘Say hi to our favourite Professor-slash-student,’ Lance purred. ‘Tell him I miss him.’ 

‘I won’t.’ 

‘Tell him you miss him.’ 

‘I swear to fuck one day I’m going to punch you in the face.’ 

He hesitated for a moment after pulling on his jacket and grabbing his bag and helmet, Hunk disappearing back into the kitchen as Lance stood awkwardly behind the sofa, arms wrapped around his torso and a wobbly grin on his face. Keith glanced to the door, conscious of the time. 

‘Hey, Lance?’ 

The ocean eyes snapped to him. ‘Yeah?’ 

‘Good luck, dude. Knock ‘em dead, or, whatever.’ 

A bright smile crossed the tanned face. ‘Thanks, buddy. You too.’ 

Keith nodded and left the flat with knees that felt stiff and a heart that wouldn’t stop racing in his chest. 

The drive to the library was easy, a route he was well familiar with after the past two years, and he parked in the place he habitually parked in whenever he was there. He clipped his helmet on to his bag and headed towards the building while trying his best to ignore the desire to flee as quickly as he could. 

Everything had changed. It had shifted. His feelings had become so much more complicated. So much more real. 

Shiro was standing outside, which was new. The times that they had met there before they had met inside. 

‘Hey.’ 

Grey eyes snapped up to him, wide for a moment before the man recovered. A gentle smile that set his mind at ease despite the storm brewing. ‘Hey, glad you could make it.’ 

‘I was the one who asked you to meet me.’ 

‘Right,’ Shiro nodded, gesturing towards the building. ‘Shall we?’ 

The library was a sensible place to meet. It made sense. 

Here they couldn’t be tempted by anything other than the strict professional friendship that they should’ve started with. 

* * *

They met at the aquarium. Lance had to get two buses to get there, but he was reluctant to have her pick him up because that just seemed uncool and would leave him trapped in an enclosed space with just the two of them for a prolonged period of time, which so did  _not_ seem appealing. So instead he asked they meet at the aquarium. 

She was there first. Because of course she was. 

She was thumbing her way through a leaflet when he arrived, hair pulled back in a ponytail the way she always did when it was college-related, though he knew for a fact that the green and white stripy shirt she was wearing was one of her favourites. 

‘Apparently they have dugongs,’ was what she greeted him with, eyes still trained on the words in front of her. ‘I’ve never actually seen a dugong.’ 

‘How have you never actually seen a dugong?’ he questioned. 

‘I don’t live near them which, funnily enough, makes it kind of difficult to see them.’ 

As soon as she lifted her face up to him properly with a lopsided grin and glittering brown eyes, he felt the nerves begin to fade, replaced by a fast fluttering in his chest. 

‘Ready?’ 

‘Ready as I’ll ever be!’ 

Within the first ten minutes he’d forgotten why he was there. Any attempt at being more proactive in his flirting was replaced by their usual banter, racing to the dugong tank to get a good look at the creature, or spending far too much time getting  _the perfect_ selfie with the sharks because  _you don’t understand, Pidge, they’re sharks!_  

He was glad he chose the darker blue shirt given how wet they got after dipping their hands in the touch pool and flicking water at each other. 

It was fine. It was so, so fine. It wasn’t exactly what he’d come for, but it was exactly what he  _wanted_. 

He should’ve moved sooner. 

‘Hey!’ Pidge grasped his arm, the same wide smile that had been plastered on her face for the whole day present. ‘It’s Plax!’ 

He looked up with wide eyes, seeing the girl in question standing only meters away. At her name she snapped round, beautiful jewel-like eyes landing on them in that instant he felt his stomach drop to his feet at the torn expression on her face. 

Her eyes flickered to the side as a polite smile spread across her face that didn’t quite reach her eyes. Next to her was another one of the exchange students with thin eyes that seemed to squint in his direction before her face turned down, not gracing either of them with a smile. 

‘Hey, what a…surprise, to see you.’ 

He forced a smile on his face as they approached each other, still leaving a good few feet between them. Enough space that there were people walking through it. ‘Yeah, hey. It’s-the aquarium, where we need to do that work.’ 

Pidge raised a brow. Lance ignored the way her brown eyes flickered between him and Plaxum. Cripes all mighty this was awkward. 

‘Yes, exactly. It’s a really nice aquarium.’ 

He rubbed the back of his head, trying to find words to fill the silence. ‘I hope you’re getting plenty of…knowledge from your trip.’ 

‘It’s been very informative, yes.’ 

The girl next to her glared harder. 

Pidge spoke up. Oh how he wished Pidge didn’t speak up. ‘I didn’t know you were here Plax. Do you want to go round together or something? Won’t it be easier if you do it as a group if this kind of thing is for class?’ 

‘Pidge-!’ 

Plaxum cut him off with curt words and a sympathetic smile. ‘Thank you, but it’s fine. Swirn and I are doing fine on our own and I wouldn’t want to disturb you.’ 

‘Yeah, we’ll let you keep  _him_ to yourself.’ 

Pidge’s eyes were on him in a second. He could feel her mentally trying to communicate with him for clarification on what the hell that was because wow talk about ice cold. 

‘Swirn, don’t.’ 

The woman crossed her arms and scoffed. ‘Whatever.’ 

‘I’ll see you at home, Pidge.’ 

‘Sure, later…’ 

Lance let out a sigh of relief as the pair disappeared around to where the shark tank was. He wasn’t quite prepared for the barrage of questions that followed. 

‘Okay what the frick frack was that all about? When were you and Plaxum so  _awkward_ around each other? What did you  _do_? You didn’t do that weird flirt thing did you because I swear to fuck Lance if you’ve-?!’ 

‘She asked me out.’ 

Pidge stopped. Her mouth hung open. Eyes wide. 

‘Is it really that hard to believe?’ 

‘Plax. My roommate. Asked you out?’ 

‘Yeah, so much for your lesbian theory, huh?’ 

‘Why didn’t you say yes?’ 

He shrugged. Dangerous territory now. Tread with caution. ‘She asked to come here together. I’d already asked you and you said yes. So I politely declined but said if she wanted she could join us.’ 

‘Oh my gosh,’ Pidge finally tore her eyes away to look down at the floor, a hand coming to her forehead and pushing her fringe back. ‘I wouldn’t have minded if you’d-if you’d cancelled so you could date-?!’ 

‘I didn’t want to.’ 

‘What?’ 

He huffed. ‘I didn’t want to cancel on you to go on a date with Plax. Bros before hoes, right?’ 

She hesitated. She still didn’t look at him. ‘Right.’ 

‘Besides, I’m totally over the whole Plax thing. She’s cute and stuff but dating an exchange student? She’d only be here for the rest of the term before she goes back. I’d rather have a girl closer to home.’ 

‘Of course.’ 

He shrugged it off in hopes they could go back to just enjoying themselves. She still had her eyes glued to the ground. What would it take? ‘Didn’t you say they had a realistic, life-size replica of an angler fish you wanted to see? We can go find it if you want?’ 

‘I want to go home.’ 

‘Uh…’ he couldn’t have heard that right. ‘Say what?’ 

‘I want to go home, Lance,’ she looked up and he finally saw the way her brown eyes were starting to glisten and water. ‘I don’t want to be here anymore.’ 

‘Right. Okay, do you still want to stop off at the gift shop, or…?’ 

‘No.’ 

‘I don’t mind. I could get you a dumb science kit to make you feel better or-!’ 

‘ _Stop it_.’ 

He flinched. 

‘Just-just take me to my car, don’t get me anything. Please- _gosh_ -!’ she pulled the sleeves of her hoody down and wiped at her eyes. ‘Let’s get out of here already.’ 

The journey back outside was painful. Neither of them spoke, and she didn’t even look at him as they walked, allowing the stilted silence to settle over them. Lance tried to ignore the way that his left side would bump against her as they squeezed their way out the gift shop and through the people crowded there. 

He walked her to her car and waited as she fiddled with the keys in her pocket before pressing the button to open it up. She didn’t look like she was about to cry anymore, but there was a sickly look on her face that he wasn’t going to let her disappear to bury. Whatever it was that set her off at the aquarium was going to get addressed even if it killed him. 

‘You need to stop coming round.’ 

Maybe it was going to kill him. He raised a brow. ‘I suppose that’s one way to say goodbye, thanks for the aquarium ticket.’ 

She grimaced. ‘I-I’m sorry, that came out a lot harsher than I planned.’ 

‘Dare I ask where this is coming from?’ 

A sigh. That was never good. ‘Yes. We need to stop hanging out. Well, I mean we can still hang out, but this,’ she gestured between them. ‘Thing. This movie day thing, this doing things together thing. Doing things just the two of us. It needs to stop.’ 

‘Why?’ 

She scowled like it wasn’t the most obvious question in the world. ‘Can’t you just take my word for it and accept that?’ 

‘Nope.’ 

‘Ugh, you’re so-! Fine. Because I don’t have time to be wasting on boys.’ 

‘Excuse me?’ he tried not to trip over his words. ‘You don’t have time to be wasting on  _boys_? Did you seriously just say that?’ 

‘Yes, I did. That’s my reason.’ 

‘You’re not twelve, Pidge.’ 

‘No, I’m eighteen and I have a full scholarship to  _the_ university that I wanted to get in to doing  _the_ course that I’ve always wanted to do and I can’t mess it up. Not now, not so early. It’s only my first year!’ she threw her hands in the air. ‘I may have free time now, but what about next year? Or the year after that? I was being serious, Lance. I don’t have time to waste on boys.’ 

‘You’re allowed to have friends; you don’t have to sacrifice your social life just for your course. It’s not healthy.’ 

‘Yes but that’s not what this is, is it?’ she spat. ‘Don’t get all embarrassed on me now. We both know that this is more than just some friendship. We’re friends with Keith, and Hunk, and sure maybe I’d even consider Shay a friend, but that thing that just happened? You rejecting Plax so we can go to an aquarium alone together where you pay for my ticket and offer to buy me a present?’ her shoulders dropped. He’d never seen her so deflated. ‘This isn’t friendship.’ 

He was almost scared to ask. ‘Then what is it?’ 

‘You tell me.’ 

He grimaced. He really didn’t want to. He’d changed his mind about this whole thing. 

‘I don’t cuddle while watching movies on a bed alone with my friends, Lance. I know that you and Hunk have that weird physical bond because you’re besties or whatever, and Keith may deny it but I know he joins you, but I don’t. And this isn’t the same. All the...all the flirting. And stuff. You know. Are you really going to make me say this?’ 

She was red. Bright red. If it wasn’t for the fact that she was basically trying to reject him he would’ve found it adorable. 

That’s when it hit him, what was truly happening. She was rejecting him before he even had the chance to ask. 

‘Right,’ he found his voice and shrugged his shoulders. ‘I get it. You don’t have time for boys, or whatever. I’m an unwanted distraction. Say no more, I get the memo.’

‘Lance, I didn’t-I didn’t mean it like that.’ 

‘Don’t lie to me. If that’s not how you meant it then how did you?’ 

She looked at the ground. 

‘Exactly.’ 

‘I didn’t mean to lead you on.’ 

He scoffed. ‘You think I’m mad about that? Pidge these past few months have been brilliant. Amazing! Movie night with you is like the highlight of my week. Plax asked me out five minutes after class ended, yet I’d already asked you. Five minutes!’ 

Her eyes met his. She had the audacity to look like she was about to cry. 

‘I don’t care about if you may or may not have led me on. I wouldn’t trade it for the world.’ 

‘Then why…?’ 

He huffed and puffed and tried to find the words to say while also preparing himself to walk away. ‘Because I just wish you’d give yourself the chance to live a little.’  

‘I do live a little!’ she argued. ‘I already said I have friends!’ 

‘No, you don’t. Sure you have friends, and sure sometimes you get into mischief, but everything you do is so calculated! Every time Keith has one of his weird spontaneous suggestions I see you thinking a mile a minute calculating every single little possibility, weighing the pros and cons. You don’t live, you plan! Everything!’ 

‘I’ve worked really hard to be here Lance; I’m not going to just throw it away on some impulse decision!’ 

‘Not every impulse decision is bad!’ he argued. ‘You’re not going to get kicked out of college for accidentally breaking in to the pool after hours and taking a midnight dip!’ 

‘You two were lucky that you didn’t get caught. The consequences far outweighed the gains.’ 

He raised a hand to stop her with a smug grin. ‘Oh really? Well I’ll have you know that two weeks later we did the exact same thing again and got caught, and you know what happened? Nothing.’ 

She was stunned to silence. 

‘We got a slap on the wrist and had to be the paper boys for the sports faculty for one week. It was hilarious. And a lot of hard work but totally worth it.’ 

‘But…you broke in to the pool! Twice! How is that all you got?!’ 

‘Because these are University lecturers, Pidge. Amazingly they’ve had to deal with a lot worse, and they see it day in and day out.’ 

She stared at him with a slack jaw and wide eyes. 

‘You need to give yourself the credit that you deserve,’ he muttered. ‘And stop acting like the world is going to come crashing down around you if you actually live a little. Lance, out!’ 

He threw his arms wide with a flourish and began walking backwards before spinning and definitely not nearly tripping on his dramatic exit. He was honestly too riled up to say he cared if he did. So long as he could get out of this place. 

‘Oh, and one last thing?’ 

He turned to look at her, still standing in the doorway with her mouth agape. 

‘You’re right. This isn’t just a friendship,’ he was really going to do it. He didn’t care if she’d already rejected him. He was going to get some sick satisfaction from  _forcing_  her to acknowledge his feelings even if it killed him. ‘I really, really like you.’ 

By the time he was out the building he was already ringing Keith. 

* * *

‘What do you mean she rejected you?’ 

Lance’s frustrated growl echoed through the speaker.  _‘She didn’t even wait for me to ask! She just goes on this big long rant about how important her studies are and her scholarship and how she doesn’t have time for boys or whatever.’_

He honestly couldn’t believe it. 

_‘So I told her. I told her she needed to live a little and stop being such a stick in the mud. Because she is. But I phrased it more eloquently you’d be real proud I was inspirational.’_

‘I’m sure,’ he tried to keep the sarcasm out his voice. He wasn’t sure how well he did. ‘What did she say to that?’ 

_‘I don’t know, I left. I wasn’t going to stick around for it. Damnit.’_

He looked behind him where Shiro was sat, a book in his hands. He wasn’t reading. He was just pretending not to listen. ‘Do you need a lift or something?’ 

 _‘I-!’_ there was the sound of a heavy sigh.  _‘I was hoping for some company. Just to hang out or something. Keep me busy.’_

His first instinct was to question where Hunk was. He didn’t think that their third flatmate was busy, so why wouldn’t Lance be going to him? It took a few moments for the realisation to settle in. Lance had called him. He was asking Keith specifically to hang out. The same way he had rang Lance when he had confronted Shiro’s flatmates in their kitchen. 

‘Of course,’ the answer was resolute. Obvious. ‘Whatever you need. Where do you want to meet?’ 

Shiro was on his feet in seconds, gathering Keith’s things and organising his notes. Keith abandoned all pretence of pretending it was a private conversation and put the phone on speaker as he began to get ready, not wanting to waste another second.

_‘Maybe the libra-no that’s bad. I don’t want to go there. How about that German bar you suddenly love so much_ _? You haven’t shown me it yet.’_

Keith resisted the surge of embarrassment and ignored the amused look Shiro shot him. It wasn’t like he talked about it often. ‘Sounds good man. I’ll see you in twenty?’ 

_‘Cool. Sounds good.’_

The beeping of a call ending sounded and Keith pulled his jacket on as Shiro handed him his bag. 

‘Is Lance alright?’ 

Keith honestly didn’t know. ‘Just a broken heart. Nothing he won’t recover from.’ 

‘Pidge? Really?’ 

‘I know. I kinda…I assumed that they were just a matter of time. But I guess not. She has more important things on her mind. Like studying,’ he snorted. ‘Pathetic excuse but whatever.’ 

Shiro’s brows pulled together. Keith rolled his eyes. 

‘You’re pulling your Professor face.’ 

‘What? No I’m not.’ 

‘You are. I can practically hear you think. Don’t get involved.’ 

‘I wasn’t going to.’ 

Keith raised a brow in disbelief. 

‘I won’t, I promise. Not unless it affects their grades.’ 

‘Shiro.’ 

‘I’m allowed then, I’m practically staff. It’s my duty as their teacher.’ 

‘Sure. Whatever you say,’ Keith shot him a disbelieving look. ‘I don’t think Pidge would like to know you found out through Lance, though.’ 

‘Technically I found out through you.’ 

‘ _Shiro_.’ 

The man sighed, slumping back into the chair he’d been occupying. The café was mostly empty, and they’d scored a booth that could probably fit four or five people for the two of them, leaving Shiro’s notes scattered across the surface. ‘Fine, I’ll keep out of it. I hope Lance is okay.’ 

‘Me too. This is…usually Hunk deals with him when he has a broken heart. I hope I can do a good enough job.’ 

‘I know you will.’ 

‘Thanks.’ 

Shiro waved him off. ‘Go, make sure he’s fine. I’ll see you in class.’ 

Keith gave a quick thank you before he was racing out the building, heart in his throat as he scrambled to get his helmet on as quickly as he could. Lance sent through his location, still at the aquarium, before he set off. 

The sight that met him on the other end of the journey pulled at his heart strings. 

The other man was sat on the curb, elbows on his knees, and chin in his palms. The slump in his back and the expression on his face would leave someone thinking he was bored, but the light red rim round his eyes told a different story. Keith pulled up right in front of him before moving to open the seat of the bike and pull out his spare helmet. 

Lance took it without a word. Another sign that he really wasn’t feeling his best. 

Parking in town wasn’t one of Keith’s favourite activities, but he made an exception. Lance followed him to the bar and Keith sat him down, dumped his bag, and promised to be back. 

He ordered and paid for their drinks without giving Lance a chance to argue. 

‘Thanks,’ Lance took the drink with the whispers of a smile. ‘I needed this. I think.’ 

‘Sure, no problem,’ Keith slid into the seat. ‘I guess it didn’t go as well as you hoped then?’

‘Not really. It was a weird day.’ 

Keith raised his glass, a hopeful smile on his face as he attempted to lighten the mood. ‘I guess we’re still single-mates then?’ 

The snort and grin that followed assured him he didn’t do too bad. ‘Yeah, man. Single-mates for life!’ 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I've had the scene with Lance and Pidge in the aquarium written since like chapter nine. Only two chapters left till it's over!!


	20. Chapter 20

Hunk had been nothing short of an angel through it all. Shay had arrived once to announce she wouldn’t be visiting while they ‘healed up’, but that she wanted to offer them her love and prayers instead. She wrapped each of them in an all-encompassing hug that left Lance looking like he might suffocate before firing each of them the smile of a gentle giant before leaving. 

‘I didn’t tell her the specifics, I just said it was a little bit of heartbreak,’ Hunk explained as he arrived with three bowls of ice-cream. ‘And she suggested that the three of us just chill together for a while.’

‘Dude, you don’t have to like, stop hanging out with her,’ Keith muttered. ‘She’s still allowed round.’

‘Yeah, man! It’d be a dick move of us to ban her from the flat!’

Hunk was hearing none of it. ‘Nope! You two are healing, and that means that I’m going to give both of you my complete, undivided attention.’

Keith and Lance exchanged a look. 

‘Last time there was heartbreak in this house and I took my eyes off you for five minutes you ended up setting off the fire alarms in the art department in a glorified sparkler display in the dark room, okay? It’s not happening again.’ 

Keith couldn’t say he was surprised by the actions. He was pleased with how well Lance took it, in all honesty. Apparently he’d grown up a bit since his last break up. Rejection. 

Whatever. 

It was the actions of someone else that caught him by surprise. 

The text came through late one afternoon. It was misspelled and in two parts, fractured, took him a little while to decipher. 

_Cn you meet me n the libr?_

_Soon. Lik now. Pls._

Well, shit. 

Keith sucked in a breath as he headed into the library, finding the girl in question easily. She was sat on the floor with her books and papers scattered around her, laptop in her lap and pen between her lips. Lance was definitely going to kill him for this, without a doubt. But it was something that needed to be done. 

‘Hey,’ he greeted, settling himself down on the floor across from her. ‘You wanted to talk?’ 

Her eyes flickered up for a moment. ‘Yeah. Let me just finish this line.’ 

‘Sure, no problem.’ 

He knew what someone looked like when they were delaying the inevitable. He’d done it himself numerous times. But he wasn’t about to rush his friend, especially on something as delicate as this. It needed some kind of tact. 

She placed her laptop down in front of her carefully, removing her pen and tapping it against the floor. ‘I’m guessing that Lance told you what happened.’ 

‘Yeah, you know what he’s like. A bit of a blabber mouth.’ 

She snorted. ‘A bit?’ 

‘He’s very open with his feelings.’ 

A small smile. ‘Yeah. He is.’ 

'You really rejected him because you didn’t want to mess up your grades?’ 

She flushed. ‘Okay first, he never asked me out so technically I didn’t reject him. Also you don’t need to phrase it like that.’ 

‘Why?’ 

‘It makes it sound dumb.’ 

‘That’s because it is dumb.’ 

She groaned and dropped the pen, rubbing her eyes under her glasses. ‘I know, I know. I messed up big time.’ 

He shifted uncomfortably. What was he supposed to say to that? He couldn’t outright agree with her, could he? Even if he wanted to. 

‘Hey, Keith…’ 

‘Yeah?’ 

‘You like Shiro, right?’ 

His heart rate went from zero to a million in two seconds. ‘Pidge you can’t-you can’t just say shit like that!’ 

She rolled her eyes. ‘It’s true, isn’t it?’ 

‘I mean yeah it is sure, but also very inappropriate.’ 

‘You like him, even though technically he can’t be with you, because he’s your Professor.’ 

He had no idea where she was going with this but if it helped her, if it helped Lance, then maybe it was time to fess up. ‘I do, yes.’ 

‘Despite that you still spend time with him.’ 

‘Yeah, course I do. He’s nice to be around. And, well, the weird flirting thing he does is fun I guess even if it catches me off guard a lot of the time,’ he bit back a smile that was far too soft to be on his face. ‘I know it’s really stupid, and I probably shouldn’t. I’m not doing myself any favours. But…I really enjoy spending time with him.’ 

‘Even though on paper it won’t work?’ 

‘Even though on paper it won’t work,’ he confirmed. ‘I don’t spend time with him just to get something out of it, Pidge. I’m not looking for anything other than…I dunno, happiness I guess? If that’s not too weird? You know me, I like to live in the moment.’ 

She hummed in agreement. ‘Lance said I need to stop planning. He brought you up.’ 

‘Me?’ 

‘I think he really admires how you just do things. All impulsive and brash. He said I should try it sometime, even if it gets you in trouble.’ 

‘Yeah, it does. But you don’t have to change you, Pidge. I think you’re pretty cool the way you are.’ 

‘Do you think you’d ever regret that weird thing you’ve got with Shiro?’ 

He didn’t even have to think. ‘Never.’ 

She looked away. He hoped he’d said the right thing. 

‘Are you alright?’ 

‘I think…’ she sighed and braced herself, steeling her face and strengthening her resolve. ‘I think I need to stop thinking.’ 

He snorted. ‘Alright. What do you want to do?’ 

She looked up. ‘I’m going-I’m going to go be spontaneous.’ 

‘Don’t set anything on fire.’ 

‘What?’ 

‘Uh, nothing.’ 

She smirked. ‘Help me pack up, will you?’ 

As soon as her last book was in her bag she was darting off, promising to make it up to him. What she was planning on doing was beyond him, but it was also not the most important thing on his mind. 

Shiro. 

It was the most forthcoming he’d been so far, answering Pidge’s probing questions about the man. It had been worth it, if it meant it would help Lance in some way, and even if it would help Pidge in some way, but it had left him reeling. 

Not that he was untruthful to her. He didn’t regret it. He  _wouldn’t_ regret it. He knew himself well enough to know that. But the thing he did regret? The amount of time they were spending circling round the issue. The way neither of them wanted to admit that it had finally finished and were desperately holding on to-?! 

To what? 

He ran a hand through his hair as he made his way back to his bike and stewed on the subject. Maybe it was Pidge’s turn to be spontaneous, and his turn to stop and think. 

* * *

Shiro jumped in his seat with wide eyes as he looked down at the folder that had been smacked down in front of the papers he was grading. He looked up to see Pidge Holt standing in front of him with her brows pulled down and a look of thunder on her face. The folder was black, blank with no indication of what was inside. 

Dear Lord, what was he in for now? 

‘Hello, Pidge. How can I help you today?’ 

‘This is a record of every student-professor relationship I could find. I mean I’m sure there are more beyond the ones I could find, some probably were a lot more illicit and secretive, but I’m a pretty good detective so I think I got most of them.’ 

Keep a level head, Shiro. You’ve dealt with this tiny terror all your life. You can do this. ‘Err…alright. What…would you like me to do with this?’ 

‘I’d like you to ask Keith on a date.’ 

That was it. His poker face was dropped. He couldn’t keep it up not with that kind of demand. ‘Excuse me?’ 

She rolled her eyes and straightened herself, planting her hands on her hips. ‘Don’t act coy with me. You know how many of these Professors were penalised for being involved with their students? Three. One was actually kind of disgusting and went to prison which, I mean you’re not so you don’t need to worry, but out of ten that I found only three bad eggs.’ 

‘Okay I’ll bite, what was the difference between those three and the other seven?’ 

She smirked like she’d won. ‘Because three broke the rules, and seven didn’t.’ 

‘How did they not break the rules?’ 

She opened the folder and started flipping through. ‘Professor Kolivan.’ 

‘You mean the  _Dean_?’ 

‘Yes, the same one. He was in a relationship with one of the students nine years ago. Obviously it didn’t work out because I’m fairly certain his current partner is too old to have been a student, but when he dated his student they were in a completely separate department from him. He dated an Art student.’ 

It was difficult to imagine the composed, professional man he knew dating an Art student. The man didn’t have a creative bone in his body. 

‘Next, we have Professor Coran.’ 

Shiro tried not to laugh. Pidge caught the smirk he was hiding behind his hand and powered through. 

‘Fifteen years ago Professor Coran was apparently attractive enough that he had six relationships with students. Two of which were at the same time.’ 

He remembered the ginger man saying something along those lines, but he’d always assumed he was exaggerating and embellishing the truth. 

‘He was the same age as you.’ 

‘And how did Coran get away with it? Kolivan was with someone from a separate department. Did Coran do the same?’ 

‘No!’ she raised a finger. ‘Three of them were on the course he’s now in charge of. Two were in different departments, and one was in the same department but a different course.’ 

‘Then how?’ 

‘He never taught them.’ 

Shiro raised a brow. 

‘One of them, Julian, was in one of his classes. He swapped to a different class so he would have a different Professor.’ 

He felt a slow realisation settle in. What she was getting at was finally coming together. But… 

‘That’s the loop hope. You can date students who you don’t teach.’ 

‘But I  _do_  teach Keith,’ Shiro persisted. ‘I took over that class from Coran, ages ago, and Keith needs to take it. He’s half way through, to drop it now…’ 

‘You took it over from Coran. If you swapped that class for Coran’s engineering one, then you’d be free to do what you wanted.’ 

‘We can’t swap half way through the term, Pidge. I’m a student Professor, not a real one.’ 

She groaned and threw her hands in the air. ‘I knew you were going to say that. So I have another proposition for you.’ 

‘What?’ 

She flipped through the file. There was a table. A full, drawn out, detailed table, of three plans to get him and Keith together. He lost composure once again and gaped down at the page. 

‘I made a backup.’ 

‘You made three plans?’ 

‘Just in case you weaselled your way out of one of them. I know you well enough to know you’d have an answer to whatever I was going to say,’ she slapped a finger down on the second column of the table. ‘Plan be is to have you two keep it in your pants long enough that you don’t start dating until next term but-I mean, have you  _met_ Keith?’ she laughed. ‘Not happening. So Plan C was kind of a mixture? If you managed to convince Coran, which, let’s be honest, wouldn’t be difficult given his track record, you could teach Keith and keep it on the down-low until next term by having Coran mark his assignments.’ 

She gave him a moment to let it sink in. He took the folder off her, staring down at the notes she’d made. 

‘You’d owe him such a huge favour, but I bet you could pull it off. You have the bonus of being able to say you met him before you started teaching him, which I  _know_ you did because Lance told me, even if you weren’t  _dating_ at the time. But you’re not exactly dating now either, so it’s not like it’d be a big deal, right?’ 

He looked down at the page. ‘This is…really quite impressive. You’ve put some real thought into this, haven’t you?’ 

She grinned and pushed her glasses further up her nose. ‘I’ve been told I plan too much.’ 

‘You say it like you’re proud of it.’ 

‘Right now? Definitely.’ 

He looked back down at the page. Every little detail was thought out so perfectly. Each plan seemed fool-proof, perfect and ready to be set up and executed. He wanted to be able to shut the folder and give it back to her, politely decline and retain his semi-professional status. He wanted to, but… 

‘Alright.’ 

Her eyes lit up. ‘Really?’ 

‘I’ll need to speak to Coran first,’ he ran a finger over the section of the table titled “Plan C”. ‘It’s a little bit of a…morally grey area. But…probably not the worst thing I’ve ever done.’ 

‘Oh my goodness I’m so happy.’ 

He chuckled and looked up. ‘Well I hope Keith is just as happy about it as you are.’ 

‘He-!’ she flushed and bit back a smile. ‘He helped me out. With romance. So, you know, I thought maybe I could give him a hand too. He’s been so into you for so long.’ 

The confession had his heart racing and his stomach fluttering. He liked to think he hid his embarrassment well. ‘I’m pleased to hear you’re going to give Lance a chance. It’ll do you good to be able to have a distraction from all that hard work you do.’ 

‘Yeah. I’m glad too.’ 

‘Do me a favour?’ 

‘Yeah?’ 

He closed the folder and tucked it into his bag. ‘Don’t tell Keith. Not yet. I want to make sure I have it all sorted out first.’ 

She grinned a toothy smile. ‘Wouldn’t dream of it. I don’t want to ruin the surprise.’ 

‘Do you know what you’re going to do about Lance?’ 

The smile became a little sheepish. ‘Yeah…about that.’ 

‘What is it?’ 

‘I might need your help. And by your help I mean, I might need a large volume of people to help.’ 

The next folder she pulled out had a plan that was so, very, perfectly Lance. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The end is nigh.


	21. Chapter 21

It was a conversation that was long overdue. That they kept starting and never quite finishing. Keith sucked in a breath, steeling his resolve as he prepared himself. The more he stared at the man at the front of the class the more he knew this was something that needed to happen. There needed to be a distance between them, else-?! 

‘Hey, you okay?’ 

He snapped his head to Lance. Lance, with brows pulled together in concern. Lance, with bags under his eyes from where he lacked some sleep. Lance, always over sensitive to his feelings and heartbreak. Who got hit hard and recovered fast. Who still had time to worry about his friends. 

Keith forced a smile. ‘Yeah, I’m fine. I…have to do something after class, so head off without me.’ 

Lance looked down to the man at the front of the room still leading the lecture. He wasn’t as foolish as he seemed. ‘You gonna be alright on your own?’ 

‘Yeah I think so. It’s something I have to do.’ 

‘You know where to find me if you need me, alright?’ 

They both knew he wouldn’t take Lance up on that, even if he needed it. Keith always had a nasty habit of trying to deal with things on his own. But the sentiment alone was enough to keep him going. Sometimes it was just enough to know the option was there for you. That someone was willing to stretch their hand out. 

‘Thanks, dude.’ 

The lecture passed with few disruptions. They finished and packed up, Lance giving a firm squeeze on the shoulder before he left for his next class. Keith watched the brunette head down the corridor before he willed his feet to guide him to the office he needed. 

Hopefully it’d give the student-lecturer enough time to get back. He didn’t want to end up getting there first. He didn’t want to seem desperate, even if it was a little late for that. 

It was a familiar route at this point. The sign on the door that read his name was a harsh reminder of a tanned woman on an effort to look after his friend. A woman who seemed to treat him with respect yet hold him at arm's length. 

It wasn’t something he wasn’t used to, but it was something he’d always find a little weird. 

He sucked in a breath. 

Poised his fist. 

‘Now or never.’ 

The knock was louder than he intended. Two against the wood before his fist fell to his side and fear began to creep through his bones. Silence echoed around him. He tried to steal his resolve. Remind himself why he was there. Of all the moments that led up to now. 

He  _had_ to finish this. 

The door opened and the surprised smile that greeted him left him doubting it all. ‘Keith, nice of you to drop by. Come in.’ 

He stayed standing. There was no time to take a seat. The less comfortable the better. As soon as he sunk into the trap of small talk he knew he’d be too wrapped up in their atmosphere to have this conversation. He needed to spit it out. 

‘I wanted to talk to you.’ 

Shiro raised a brow. He shut the door and moved to stand opposite the smaller man. ‘You can talk to me about anything.’ 

‘Right,’ he licked his lips. ‘Yeah. So-I-shit, how do-I was talking to Pidge yesterday. To help her with-with the whole Lance thing.’ 

‘She mentioned it.’ 

‘What?’ 

Shiro waved it off. ‘Nothing, continue. What do you need to say?’ 

He hit the nail on the head. He wasn’t there to talk at all. He needed to just say what he needed to say. He it out. Off his chest. Into the open in that area they’d been trying to delicately work around. 

‘This whole-the friendship thing. It’s-I think I need time.’ 

The floodgates opened. 

‘I lied.’ 

A furrowed brow. Arms folded across a broad chest. ‘About what?’ 

‘The other night. In the bar. The friendship thing. I lied. It was never about friendship. I always found you-like-attractive. From when I first saw you for probably until I stop seeing you. Literally seeing you. It’s not just that you’re physically attractive, which you are, but your personality too. You…I feel like having you around is good. But not in a friendship way.’ 

‘You’re saying…’ 

‘I really like you, even if I shouldn’t, and I don’t regret that.’ Keith said, trying his best to keep his voice steady despite the fact that all he wanted to do was run away. 'It's weird to force a friendship, and maybe we should've stopped a long time ago. Like, not even started to begin with-!' 

'Keith...' 

'-But that's okay. It's been fun, you know?' He ran a hand through his hair. He didn't want Shiro to knock him off track. He might lose his resolve. 'You're really cool, and a lot of fun to be around, and smart and funny and...so I don't want to mess up your job and stuff. I don't want to be the reason you get in trouble.' 

'Keith, listen to-!' 

'It's alright, really. I'm happy to-!' 

Shiro surged forward, grasping hold of Keith's jaw and forcing him to look up. His entire body melted as the larger man's lips clasped over his own, one arm still holding his jaw with some strength as the prosthetic wrapped around his waist, pulling their bodies flush against each other. Every ounce of resolve and determination that Keith stepped into the room with was gone in an instant, leaving nothing but need and want in its place. 

He ran his hands over the strong chest, across the broad shoulders. He linked his fingers together while tangling them in Shiro's hair, a movement that only deepened their kiss further. A soft wetness ghosted along his bottom lip before their tongues were dancing across one another in light feather touches that never failed to leave Keith weak at the knees. 

He tried to pull back, biting down on his lip to hold back a proud smile as Shiro followed for a few moments before coming to his senses. Dark eyes were so close, locking him in place. Or perhaps that was the arm still wrapped round his waist. 

'I'm not letting you go that easy.' 

Keith wasn't sure he heard that right. 

'I'm going to make this work, Keith. I don't care how many hoops I have to jump through, or if I need to have Coran mark the work for it to be acceptable. I'm willing to wait till the end of the term so I can organise between the others to make sure I don't teach you in any class. This is happening,' the clasp on Keith's back and jaw disappeared. 'If you'll have me?'  

'Yes.' 

Shiro gave an amused smirk. 'That was fast. Don't you want to think about it?' 

'Absolutely not.' 

With a low chuckle the man dipped down and sealed their lips together once again. 

His phone was buzzing before he got too comfortable with his ass pressed against the edge of Shiro’s desk. The pair pulled apart, a bashful pink spreading across Shiro’s face as the man gave an apologetic grin that had Keith smiling right back. 

The buzzing persisted. 

He fished his phone out his pocket, a smile forming on his lips as Shiro’s face pressed into the mop of hair on top of his head, though it dropped slowly as he saw who was calling. 

_Pidge._

‘Hello?’ 

_‘Keith!’_ her voice came through breathless.  _‘I need your help. Hunk says you finish class soon?’_

‘Uh…’ Keith glanced up at Shiro. ‘Yeah, I’ve finished. What’s up?’ 

_‘I need you and Hunk to go ov_ _er a plan for me.’_

Shiro pulled back with a bright light of recognition in his eyes. ‘Her plan.’ 

‘Her what?’ 

_‘Is that Shiro? Is he with you?’_

Keith felt heat flood his face. ‘Uh, yeah, Shiro’s with me?’ 

_‘Great. Meet me outside the science building. I’ll brief you.’_

She hung up before he could comment on anything else. The amusement dancing in Shiro’s eyes said it all as he promised he’d fill Keith in on the way to her. 

He didn’t. He just kept vaguely answering the questions and promising Pidge would explain in more detail. 

* * *

She parked in front of the science building. It was where Lance was, still in class, oblivious- _hopefully_ -to what was going to come. It took a while to think of something that would be suitable. Something that was so perfectly Lance. Something that would be enough to say sorry for. 

Matt helped. And by ‘Matt helped’ she meant Matt sat her down with Allura and made her binge watch every highly rated romantic comedy they could find on the internet with the promise that  _your friendship was started through movies, it’s just poetic to do it like this_. 

Pidge scowled down at the two men next to her, feeling incredibly unsteady climbing onto the roof of her car. “I feel very unsafe right now.” 

“I’ll catch you if you fall, don’t worry,” Hunk assured. 

“Yeah, Hunk’s got you.” 

She shot a glare down at the red-hooded man who smirked back up at her. 

“Should we go over the plan one last time, just to make sure?” Hunk asked. “I don’t want to mess it up.” 

“So long as we get the choreography vaguely on point, it’ll be fine. He’ll appreciate the sentiment.” 

Pidge huffed out a breath and felt each and every joint stiffen as one of the students outside the building signalled that it was time. “I feel like I’m going to vomit. I can’t believe I’m about to do this.” 

“I’m really impressed. This is like, a big thing,” Hunk commented. “Lance is gonna love it. He loves big things.” 

Keith passed a party cannon across to Hunk and nodded to Shay, who was stood to the side with her brother preparing the others in the dance group to get in position. Hunk reached up and squeezed Pidge’s hand one last time with a warm smile that set her mind at ease a little. 

“Don’t worry,” he promised. “It’s gonna work out. I promise you.” 

He moved to get in position on the other side of the stairs to where Keith was. She saw the members of the robotics club lined up with water guns and party cannons just like the ones Lance’s flatmates had. Shiro was off to one side, a phone in his hand as he held it up to record what was about to happen even though she  _explicitly stated_ she didn’t  _want_ her brother to receive the recording. Once everyone seemed ready she looked down at her phone where Rover was, swallowing a lump in her throat as she activated the drone and began her search. 

The camera showed his face, chatting away to another student. She lowered the drone quickly and activated the alarm, successfully getting Lance’s attention. The cold look she saw through the phone made her second guess this whole plan. 

She looked up to see Keith give her a thumbs up. 

She hadn’t come this far to back away now. 

Rover spun and began flying down the halls towards where the entrance was. She saw the rear camera in the corner of the screen, showing Lance following the robot with a furrowed brow and high strung shoulders. 

“He’s coming,” she announced as she closed in on the door. “Start the music!” 

Rover stopped at the main doors to the building as she felt a lump in her throat form as the song started and the dancers began to move. She watched through Rover’s eyes as Lance’s eyes narrowed and zoned in on the door, presumably able to hear the loud music through the wooden doors to the building. 

He gave her one last look through the camera before he pushed forward and opened the doors. 

As soon as he did, Keith and Hunk started. They both set off the cannons in their arms, showering the boy in front with confetti. Lance swatted and laughed as it fell around him and water shot forth from the guns in spurts, shooting arches over the dancers in front. He looked to Hunk and Keith, both who pointed for him to head towards where she stood. 

His eyes finally locked with her own. She put Rover to sleep and tucked her phone away in her pocket before reaching down to pick her banner up from the floor. 

She held it high above her head so he would be able to see. 

_I love you._

He stared at her from his position at the top of the stairs as the next set of party cannons went off. She felt her legs wobble as her knees went week. 

He didn’t just start to move. He ran. 

Lance ran down the stairs, without taking his eyes off her, taking them two at a time. The dancers made way with graceful ease, spinning and dancing around him with the fans as the cannons quickly went off with his movement. He barely gave her chance to jump down from the hood of her car, the banner still held in her hands as he rushed forward and scooped her into his arms. 

He picked her up in a bone crushing hug with the banner trapped between them and a laughter rumbling forth from his chest, spinning her in place as the dancing continued around them and she heard cheers filling the air. 

‘Lance, I-?!’ 

‘Don’t.’ 

She stopped short at that. 

‘You don’t need to say anything.’ 

A warm glow settled in her chest and she buried her face in his hair, wrapping her arms around his neck as her legs dangled. He didn’t let go.  

* * *

Hunk wrestled with the oven as he pulled the casserole dish out, the freshly cooked meal ready and waiting to be eaten. Shay was somewhere to his left gathering the plates and cutlery and he could hear laughter in the living room as Lance set up the movie for the night. 

‘Sweetie, let me,’ Shay reached forward to close the oven. ‘You can put the dish down before you shut the door you know.’ 

‘I don’t need to when I have a beautiful lady to help me out,’ he flattered with a wide smile. She chuckled at his response and leant forward to press a kiss to his cheek, warm eyes crinkling at the edges. ‘Come on, let’s get this stuff to them before they start a riot. Lance wouldn’t shut up about it while it was cooking.’ 

‘He’s a growing boy.’ 

‘Stop mothering him.’ 

The pair entered the living room to find Lance and Pidge on the floor in front of the sofa, their shoulders nudging each other to-and-fro as they sniggered at something they were watching on Pidge’s phone. Pretty standard for those two. 

He rolled his eyes. ‘Dinner’s ready!’ 

There was a loud crash from one of the bedrooms followed by a series of curse words. 

‘Uh…is he okay?’ 

Lance snorted. ‘He’s getting ready for his big date.’ 

Shay’s face lit up into a smile. ‘Is that today?’ 

‘Yup. Last day of term, and our last core biology class was on Tuesday. It’s time.’ 

Hunk gave a big sniff as he tried to hold back his tears. ‘He’s all grown up.’ 

The door burst open, wild black hair appearing with wide violet eyes. ‘Lance.’ 

‘Fine, fine, I’m coming. Jesus, I would’ve thought you could at least  _dress_ yourself.’ 

‘Now is  _not_ the time,’ Keith bit back before he disappeared into the depth of his room once again. 

Hunk and Shay deposited the meal and plates onto the coffee table, taking the sofa for themselves while Pidge made herself comfortable on the floor. Shay asked all the right friendly questions, about how Pidge’s exams had gone, if she was ready to head back home with Matt for the summer, if they’d see her at all and when she would be back on campus. Hunk felt a surge of pride knowing that Shay would be spending part of the holiday with him, meeting his family for the first time since they got together, before he would spend part of the holiday with her. 

He was unsurprised to hear Pidge wasn’t quite there yet. ‘He said he has…a big family?’ 

Hunk  _laughed_. ‘That’s the understatement of the century. The McClain household is an experience unlike any other. But, you know, in a good way.’ 

She forced a smile. ‘Yeah, a good way. I’ll…try get used to all the Lance-isms before I risk the rest of his family.’ 

‘Probably a wise choice. I wouldn’t worry about it too much. They’ll love you.’

The door to Keith’s room reopened mid-way through a conversation as Lance fired off advice and instructions to his shorter flatmate, who was scowling and rolling his eyes as he hurried towards the door. 

Shay gave another of her signature warm smiles and cut Lance off midsentence. ‘You look so handsome, Keith! Lance did a good job.’ 

The dark haired boy flushed and fiddled with the keys in his hands. ‘Thanks. I’ll-uh-see you guys later. Enjoy dinner?’ 

‘We will.’ 

Lance leered as he nudged his friend in the arm. ‘Maybe we won’t see you later. Maybe we won’t see you till tomorrow, huh? Huh?’ 

‘Cut it out,’ Keith hissed, giving a half-hearted shove. ‘Don’t you have a movie to watch?’ 

The tanned boy threw an arm around Keith’s shoulder with a shark-like smile. ‘It’s not started yet.’ 

‘I’m gonna start it.’ 

‘Pidge, babe, no! You have to wait! I don’t have food!’ 

‘Then hurry up.’ 

Hunk adverted his eyes, as he often did when he knew his flatmates were going to have a moment. He nudged Pidge with his foot as he noticed she was still staring at them, receiving a glare in return from the small woman. Shay chuckled but started dishing out the food to distract them all from what was happening to their left. 

He dared a glimpse. Just for a moment. 

Keith wrapped his arms round Lance’s back, squeezing for a moment as Lance patted the smaller man with a fond smile. They were whispering amongst themselves as they pulled back, Keith shrugging his embarrassment off with a lopsided smile as Lance’s fist met his shoulder in support. 

Keith caught Hunk’s eyes. He gave a wave. 

Hunk waved back. 

Lance returned to where they were sitting as the door closed, his knee knocking against Pidge’s as the pair got comfortable on the floor. She leant in with bright eyes as she asked: ‘So if Keith’s not here do I get his chair?’ 

‘You can have it. It’s so uncomfortable. I don’t know why he’s so attached to it.’ 

‘Aww, does it not meet your majesty’s standards?’ 

‘I’ll have you know my standards are high because I deserve the best. That’s why you’re here.’ 

She pursed her lips through her smile. ‘Hmm? Then don’t I also deserve the best?’ 

‘Hey!’ 

Shay hushed the pair as the movie started, snuggling into the couch next to Hunk before digging into the food he’d prepared. 

The smile that was plastered onto his face would be there for the rest of the night. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here we are 
> 
> Finito 
> 
> All wrapped up 
> 
> I'm sorry for how infrequently the updates got at the end there (and for anyone who reads any of my chaptered fics, I'm sorry that I seemingly have abandoned them all). The past few months have been kind of rough and a real downer on my motivation, so I feel like I haven't been bringing my A game, but I'm also really proud of myself for the fact I kept going and got to the end. 
> 
> I'd say I hope it wasn't too cheesy but I LIVE for the cheese so I totally hope it was. I hope it made your teeth rot because what I need right now is a sappy ass ending that promises a brighter future and no one can ever tell me those kind of endings aren't important.

**Author's Note:**

> Fuck summaries and titles man I don't know what to call it eat my ass.


End file.
